The Champ
by white eyed fox
Summary: It was just a chance meeting at a place that they both knew so well, now two friends, separated by time, have an opportunity to do things right…once they learn how to let go of their pasts
1. First Meeting and the Diamond

**Well, here it is, my first attempt at a multi-chapter story! The schedule may be inconsistent, but it shall be completed...eventually...**

**Anyway, the modern day (aka 2031) is going forward in time, however, the flashbacks can jump around to anytime before that.**

**Now let's get on with the story  
**

* * *

Lynn stirs in bed. Light is beginning to creep into her room, and she groans at the thought of having to get up; why couldn't the light shut up and let her sleep until her alarm wakes her up? All she wants to do is just sleep a little longer, but nature and her brain keep telling her to get out of bed.

She opens one eye and looks at her alarm clock, there's thirty more minutes until the alarm is due to snap her awake; she just wants to sleep a little longer, but the sunlight decides to wake her up early. Lynn groans again, figuring that there is no point in staying in bed, she stretches a little and gets the bottle of water next to her clock to chug it down, "No point staying in bed anymore."

She drags her feet through her apartment, and hears her cell phone buzzing. It's Lori.

"It's too early in the morning to go on a texting spree, Lori," she whines out loud.

Ever since Lisa decided to create her own cell phone service with unlimited everything and full bars no matter where you go, Lori has gone even crazier with the texting, videos, posts, and photos; Lynn understands why, the siblings are spread out much more and some are living in different states. While it is annoying, to have Lori's constant updates, and even some other sisters too, she will admit that she does enjoy the free phones, free service, and no bills. Thank you, Lisa.

Lynn ignores the phone, which is still buzzing, and opens the fridge to get some breakfast. "Let's see, let's see. Milk, eggs, butter, bread, old box of donuts, a slice of cake, cookies, and breakfast sprinkles. I guess it'll do," she says as she takes out the bread, milk, breakfast sprinkles, and a donut from the box.

The phone buzzes again.

She looks through the cupboards and finds it, "Yes! Strawberry milk powder and chocolate spread."

She pops the bread in the toaster, and bites down into the cold donut, as she makes herself a glass of strawberry milk.

The phone keeps buzzing. "Seriously? How can you guys have that much to say? We were just texting last night."

Lynn spread some chocolate spread on the toast and tops it with the sprinkles before she finally gives in and looks at her phone. She looks at the messages and sees what got everyone so excited – a photo of her and Bobby, both of their kids, and an announcement of another baby on the way painted on a canvas. Everyone texted their congratulations and a bunch of questions like when was she due and possible names and all the same questions they asked Luan when she was pregnant about two years ago.

She playfully shakes her head, and sends her older sister congratulations and goes back to breakfast, before she has to check on emails and get ready for work.

When it comes to work, Lynn isn't exactly over the moon thrilled about it, her ideal job was Olympian or professional athlete, but guess what? Life doesn't always work out that way. We don't all get to make our dreams come true. Sometimes you just got to take what you can get, and that just so happens to be a job as an assistant coach for a youth softball team.

Yup, Lynn Loud Jr. is an assistant coach on a kids' softball team; but it has its perks, like being outside, not having to wear office work attire, the smell of grass, the sound a bat makes when a ball is hit – it just feels right.

Of course, it can't all be good. Annoying parents, whiny kids, and league bosses who seriously need to learn how to relax; all of them are making her favorite childhood sport a bore. She sighs at the thought; sometimes she missed being a kid, living in that crazy house with all of her siblings, all the time in the world with her friends, _'Yup, being an adult is great…' _

Lynn scrolls through her emails on her phone, she doesn't spot anything out of the ordinary, just the coach letting her know what they are doing for practice today, parents emailing their kid's schedules, because apparently kids are just so darn busy these days. She rolls her eyes, and keeps scrolling.

"Same. Same. Same. Hmm? I cannot pick up Elena week. Her father will pick her up, thank you," Lynn reads out loud. "Geez! Why send an email? Shouldn't her dad already be on the list of approved people to pick her up? Then again," she stops to think about the girl; Lynn doesn't know much about her, just that she's okay at softball and that her mom usually picks her up. "Hmm...when was the last time I saw her being picked up by her dad?" Lynn shrugs her shoulders and continues to eat her sugary excuse of a breakfast.

* * *

_Twelve-year-old Lynn goes to the baseball field afterschool. The season is due to start in a couple of weeks, and she wants to get ready; not for the tryouts, she knows that she'll make the team; she wants to be ready to break her own records from last season. She takes a bucket of baseballs up to the mound, "The bottom of the ninth. Bases are loaded. Loud is on the mound. One more strikeout and the Squirrels win the championship."_

_Call her silly, but this is how she gets in the zone. Lynn does her good luck rituals, throws the ball, and she smiles at herself, "Strike one!"_

_She gets another ball, pretends to be the announcer, and throws, "Strike two!"_

_One more strike and she would win the championship. She throws the ball, and before she could declare the next strike, she hears someone say, "Ball!" Lynn looks in the direction of the voice; and see a Hispanic boy in blue walk onto the field._

"_What!? That was totally a strike!" _

"_No it wasn't. It was too high," he says as he set down his duffel bag._

_Lynn looks at the boy with a small scowl on her face, "Like you could do better?"_

_With a mitt in hand, he walks up to the mound, "Go to the plate, and I'll show you how to throw a strike." _

_Lynn gets her bat and walks to the plate. She readies herself by performing her various good luck rituals – jumping on the plate twice, spitting on her bat three times, and tapping her knees two times against each other. _

"_What are you doing?"_

"_My good luck rituals, duh. How else am I going to prove that you can't throw better than me?" she says with a cocky tone._

"_Practice? Skill? Definitely not some silly ritual…" he whispers the last part to himself._

_Lynn rolls her eyes, "Whenever you're ready!"_

_He takes in a deep breath, and throws the ball._

* * *

"Is your dad coming?" Lynn asks the girl.

Practice was over for the day, and Lynn volunteered to stay behind with Elena, however, had she known that she would still be waiting around for nearly an hour, she probably wouldn't have volunteered to do so.

"Yeah, he'll be here in a bit. He sometimes works late, and loses track of time, but he won't forget to pick me up," she says as she tries to convince Lynn of her confidence.

Lynn sits down next to the girl, who was swinging her legs while looking at the vehicles that would pass by. She couldn't tell if Elena meant what she said, or if she was just trying to convince herself that work was the reason he was late; Lynn couldn't tell.

Lynn shakes her head. She doesn't even know the man, how can she judge someone like that, besides this is going to be the first time that she is ever going to see her unknown father; a man whom the girl described as a really hard worker that she only got to see on weekends.

The two wait in silence before Lynn finally says, "So…" she couldn't think of much. Sure, she likes the kids, but most of the time they just played and went home, very few stick around to talk, especially as late as the girl next to her did.

While Lynn is lost in her thoughts, she hears the girl ask, "So, how long have you been playing baseball?"

Lynn looks down at the girl, "Umm… for a long time… since I was like 4, maybe 5. I don't really remember" She couldn't figure out why she suddenly felt shy about admitting that fact.

"My dad played a long time too. He would tell me when we would practice how he would collect baseball cards, spend hours practicing with his friend, and how he was convinced to try–" she cuts herself off; realizing that she was probably saying too much.

"Did something happen?"

The girl shakes her head; refusing to speak.

The two sit quietly, but Lynn's patience was wearing thin, _'Where the hell is this guy? Did you forget your own kid? Is work that much more important? You know, there's this new thing called a cell phone – use it!'_

Before she could ask 'him' another question, both notice a truck pull into the parking lot.

"He's here!" Elena says in relief as she runs towards the truck.

"About damn time…" Lynn says to herself. She looks over at the man who still in the vehicle, "He could at least get out of the damn truck and apologize for keeping us waiting," she mutters to herself; she is relieved that she can go home now, even though she wants to give the bastard a piece of her mind for taking as long as he did.

Lynn looks at the girl, who is listening to her father probably explain why he was took so long. The man steps out of the truck and stiffly walked towards Lynn, "Sorry to have kept you waiting."

* * *

_Lynn laughs after she manages to hit a home run against him, _"_Some strike. If all my opponents struck me out like you did, I'd get the league's home run record in a heartbeat."_

_The boy glares at her, "You just got lucky."_

"_Yeah, lucky that you threw me an easy home run," she teases._

_He rolls his eyes, and walks towards his duffel bag. He quietly put his gear away and mutters something under his breath that Lynn couldn't hear. She knows that some people are sore losers, but he could at least be a little more graceful about it.  
_

"_C'mon, don't be that way. It takes a lot of skill to strike me out," she tries to apologize, but misses the mark._

"_It's fine. I'll leave you alone, and go practice somewhere else," he says as he walks away from her._

"_Wait up! I'll give you another chance to 'properly' strike me out."_

"_Yeah, right," he continues to walk away. _

"_I mean it! Unless you don't think you can," she says with a smug smile._

"_Fine, but you better not take a dive," he sets his bag down and goes back to the mound, as she goes back to the plate. He takes a deep breath and looks at her with determination in his eyes. "I'm gonna wipe that smug smile off of your face," he says to himself._

_Strike one._

"_Lucky throw," she mutters as she tried to regain herself._

_Strike two._

"_One more, and you're out, ponytail."_

_He throws the ball again, and she swings._

_With a look of amazement in both of their eyes, neither one believing what just happened. "Strike three. You're out," he says with a smile._

_Lynn closes her mouth; surprised that he was actually able to strike her out. All she could do was think that this random boy got lucky and did what many kids in the league dreamed of doing; strike her out. Okay, yes, she is full of herself just now, and she has been struck out before, but she was really trying after the first strike, and he succeeded in striking her out._

_She walks over to him, "Feel better now, Mr. I'm-gonna-leave-because-I-couldn't-strike-out-a-girl?"_

"_Better. Especially after striking out little Ms. I'm-so-full-of-myself-for-getting-lucky," he says with a playful smirk._

_Lynn scowls, "It's easy to get a hit when going up against Mr. Can-barely-pitch-to-the-plate-from-the-mound."_

_The boy snickers, and Lynn relaxes, joining in as well._

"_So, what's your name anyway?" Lynn asks after giving a soft punch to the arm._

* * *

The man extends his hand out to her and introduces himself, "My name's Francisco. It's nice to meet you."

Lynn just stands there frozen; she took a deep breath and can confirm that the man in front of her is who she thinks he is. _'Seriously? I know you. How do you not remember me? We played baseball after school. We hung out for years. We–'_

He interrupts her thoughts, "I should get going. Her mom's probably wondering what's taking so long. It was nice to meet you."

"Yeah, it was nice to meet you too…"

Lynn sees him return to the truck. She is about to go, before he comes back with a piece of paper, "I forgot to get your number from her mother, do you mind if I get it, in case this happens again?"

"Umm sure," Lynn says without a second thought.

She hands him back the piece of paper, "Thanks, again sorry making you wait so long."

"Pfft, it's no big deal," she says pretending to not have thought the rude things she was thinking earlier.

Lynn watches him slowly make his way to the truck, where he stops to grab what she assumed was a pain pill, "Guess he's still hurt."

She stares at the truck as it leaves the parking lot. That is definitely the Francisco she knew growing up, granted he grew a beard and was a little bigger than she remembered, but she can tell that he is definitely the same guy; she always could tell.

"Huh… so that's what happened to him." She couldn't remember the last time she thought about him; after high school it was bound to happen, especially when neither one really tries to keep in contact with the other, but it was hard between studying, practice, and both of them being in two different states.

She puts her gear in the trunk and gets into her car, "Wow, a kid. And here I thought that he was out there being Mr. Responsible, waiting before he would settle down. You think you know a guy."

* * *

_After school, Lynn notices her new friend carrying his gear towards the baseball field, _"_Hey Francisco!" she calls out to him, "Off to practice again? Geez, do you ever just relax like a normal kid?" _

_He laughs, _"_This coming from the girl who's on, like, seven different sports teams? Yeah, I'm the one with the problem," he joked back._

"_Don't be jealous just 'cause so many teams want me to play for them," she continues to play along, as she walks alongside him._

_He notices her following him, _"_So do you want to join me or is the Great Lynnsanity off to save the dying tennis team?"_

_Lynn looks through her imaginary schedule, "Hmm…I guess I can make time for you in my schedule, why not?"_

_Francisco playfully rolls his eyes and they walked towards the baseball field. When they arrive, Francisco gets out a baseball, his mitt, and a pack of gum. He pops in a stick of gum before turning to her, "Want one?"_

* * *

Lynn offers the man a stick of gum, "Want one?"

"Excuse me?" he asks her.

"You're the only one who seems to be interested in watching the kids practice. I thought that I'd reward you."

"Sure," he says as he takes the stick of gum from the assistant coach.

This is the first time that she's seen him since they met a few days ago, and honestly she was surprised that he showed up to practice; Elena too, from what Lynn could tell. When she got home that night, she was so tempted to call and remind him of his supposed childhood best friend, but there's no way that Lynn Loud Jr. was going to come off as desperate. Nope. She was going to get him to reveal himself to her, besides that's what he gets anyway.

"So… how are you doing?"

Francisco gives her a confused look before focusing on Elena again, "Elena, bend your knees a little more to get a better stance!"

"You sure know a lot about baseball." It isn't much, but something to get the conversation started, right?

He continues to stare at the field, "Knowing proper stance isn't exactly 'knowing a lot', besides I used to play when I was younger."

"So, you know your stuff, huh? I'm guessing the injury stopped you?" she knows that he continued to play after his back injury, but she didn't know if it got worse and forced him to stop once he got to college.

Francisco stays quiet and just focuses on the field, "Don't think that I'm one of those dads that tries to live out his dreams through his kids," he says, not even looking at her.

Lynn knows the type of parents that he's referring to, but she goes along with his idea, "I don't. But if you used to play, then I'm sure you wouldn't mind stepping onto the field and showing these kids something, right?"

"I'm fine here in the stands. Besides shouldn't you be helping the kids right now?"

"Fine," Lynn groans as she goes back onto the field. She blows on her whistle to gather the kids, "Alright, who wants to see if they can hit a Full-Force ball from Coach Lynn?"

The kids begin to mutter no's or reasons why they couldn't. They knows that when she mentioned Full-Force that it just means trouble; no easy pitches from the pitching machine or from each other, but balls traveling nearly 90 miles per hour at them, and that isn't exactly something that a bunch of kids seemed amped up to try.

Lynn looks over at Francisco's daughter, "What do you say, Elena?"

The girl is shocked at being called out to try, "Umm… I'm not so sure."

"Don't you want to make your old man in the stands proud?" she asks in hopes of getting her to try.

"I think I'd be more embarrassed to mess up in front of him," Elena admits.

"Oh c'mon, it's not so bad. Anyone? Anyone?" The kids shyly stare at the ground or look away from her, "Oh, fine. I guess, I'll just let you guys continue practice with the pitching machine."

The kids sigh in relief and go back to practice.

If you asked her, these kids were too afraid to try anything new or hard. Sure, her fastballs are the stuff of legends in Royal Woods, but that doesn't mean you run from the challenge.

The kids lined up and got ready to bat.

* * *

"_A what pitch?" Francisco asks her, as he set down his gear._

"_Full-Force! It'll be the fastest ball you've ever seen!" she brags._

"_So, 106 miles per hour?"_

"_I meant for someone not in the Majors!"_

"_So, 106 miles per hour?"_

"_For someone my age!"_

"_Again, 106 miles per hour?" Francisco asks, as he holds back a laugh against the girl._

"_Would you stop saying that!?" she snaps, "Just stop laughing and get ready to strike out, Reyes!"_

"_Not my full last name," he casually chimes as he walks over to the plate._

_Francisco focuses his eyes towards Lynn; he clenches his bat, ready to see what her so-called Full-Force pitch is all about. _

_Ever since their first encounter, it seems as though Lynn has made it her mission to strike him out. Multiple times, she would challenge him to hit some new pitch, which was really just Lynn throwing faster than normal, but nonetheless she was determined to strike him out the way he struck her out a few weeks ago._

"_Don't hurt yourself, Loud," he whispers to her._

* * *

Practice was over and the kids were grabbing their gear, so they could clear out. Overall, nothing noteworthy had taken place if you asked anyone; hitting, running, and snacks, see, boring.

"So what did the coach want?" Francisco asked Elena from the fence.

"She wanted to see if any of us wanted to try to bat against one of her Full-Force pitches."

"Full-Force pitch?" he asked, turning his attention to Lynn, who was staring at him from the mound.

Elena nodded, "Yeah, it's when she throws the ball– Dad! Where are you going?"

Francisco grabbed Elena's bat and made his way onto the field, "You really don't give up, huh?"

She looked over at the man, "Nope! But it is nice to see someone who's not afraid of my Full-Force pitches."

The kids looked onto the field as Coach Lynn suddenly had a challenger. They gathered around, and saw the look on Lynn's face, they knew what she was planning – her famous Full-Force pitch. Francisco clenched the bat as tightly as he could. It's been so long since he's gone up against her, even someone like her, and he wasn't going to let this opportunity slip past him.

Lynn mouthed off 'You're going down', and Francisco shook his head, "We'll see about that."

She looked at him, waiting for his usual whisper, before she threw the ball.

"Don't hold back."

"I won't," she mouthed in response.

She got ready and threw.

"Strike one. Don't tell me that you've gotten rusty?" she playfully asked.

Francisco regained himself, "Quit talking and just throw the ball."

Strike two.

"One more chance. Are you really gonna let this be the first time?"

She threw the ball one last time, and the crack of the bat hitting against the ball was all anyone could hear as the ball flew over the fence. The kids awed, impressed to see someone face their coach head on, while armed with her Full-Force pitch, but also to see the home run.

* * *

"_You just got lucky," Lynn playfully complains, after he managed to hit Full-Force pitch.  
_

_He laughs,_ "_Luck? I don't call that luck. I call that skill. Would you like me to give you his number?"_

_Lynn sticks her tongue out at him, "I'll get you next time. Maybe then you'll come up with a better comeback."_

"_Ha ha," he says sarcastically, "That's what you said last time, Lynn, and I still managed to hit your so-called 'Best Pitch Ever!', remember?"_

"_Fine, one of these days, then! I'll strike you out!"_

"_I'll hold you to it."_

* * *

The kids gather around Francisco, they are all going on about how cool that hit was and how brave he was for going up against Coach Lynn, but all he notices is the woman on the mound who is staring right at him. He knew who she was the last time they met, but kept quiet; not because he was nervous or anything, nope, he was perfectly fine seeing the girl that he knew since they were kids coaching his daughter. Granted, he was a little embarrassed to see her, since they haven't spoken in years, that and he always pictured that she would have gone on to be some professional athlete or something, so seeing her in the parking lot just a few days ago took him by surprise.

"Wow dad! That was amazing!" Elena says as she runs up to Francisco.

"It was no big deal," he tries to brush it off, but the constant attention from the kids was making it difficult.

The kids congratulate him one last time, before they begin head towards their families to go home, however Francisco and Elena stick around at the bleachers, "Dad, why are we still waiting around?"

"I wanted to talk to Coach Lynn about something. Do me a favor and wait here."

She nods in agreement. He walks over to Lynn, "So Lynnsanity's Full-Force pitch still can't strike me out, huh?"

"Oh, you finally remembered me; took you long enough," she says smugly.

"Maybe I just wanted to see how long it would take until you cracked and tried to smoke me out," he says with a playful smile.

"Bull!" Lynn snickers, before she responds to his earlier question, "So my Full-Force pitch still can't strike you out today, but that still isn't gonna stop me."

Francisco smiles, and shakes his head, "I see you're still as stubborn as usual."

"I'm not stubborn! I'm adamant," she says with pride in her voice.

Francisco nods, "Sure you are." His watch's alarm sounded off, "Well, I should get going… it was nice seeing you again."

"Yeah…guess I'll see you next practice?" she asks hopefully.

"Maybe," he says as he begin to walk back to Elena.

"I'll hold you to it."


	2. Teasing and the Text

Lynn rushes into the restaurant, she is sure that her younger sisters are annoyed at having to wait for her. When she walks into her father's restaurant, she spots the three of them already sitting in a booth. She knows what they were going to say as soon as she sits down, but it's still annoying to get lectured by her younger sisters over her tardiness.

Lisa looks over at her fifth eldest sister, "You're late, Lynn."

"I know. I know. Alarms, what are you gonna do?"

"You could try setting it earlier. You've been running late for a long time," Lucy says as she stares at the menu.

"Then why are you guys upset? You should be used to it," remarks the elder sister.

"We're upset, because we've been meeting here every Saturday morning for years, and you still can't be on time," Lily says while fiddling with the assorted condiments and jellies that the booth has in stock.

"Well I'm here, happy?"

"Eh," the three younger sisters says in unison.

Lynn grabs a menu, and looks at her younger sisters, "So what's new with guys?"

"I'm going to 12th grade!" Lily says excitedly.

"I'm working on a new formula to combat insomnia and increase productivity at the university."

"Don't they already have that? I believe its called coffee," quips Lily.

"Yes, I am familiar with the caffeinated beverage traditionally consumed in the morning, but I mean–"

"It's nothing new, unless you plan on–"

"Let me finish, younger sister."

The two younger sisters go back and forth, while Lynn and Lucy watch them. As smart as Lisa is, she is still prone to some childish tendencies, especially with how charmingly playful Lily can be; some things never change between the two of them.

Lynn peruses the menu, and wonders what to get, when Lucy quietly asks her, "So did you get a chance to read my rough draft, Lynn?"

The older sister mentally groans, "A little. It's not exactly my genre."

"I know that, but you are in the demographic."

"Doesn't mean that I want to read it!" she says slightly raising her voice.

"Read what?" asks Lily.

Lisa explains to her younger sister, "Lucy sent us a rough draft of her latest literary endeavor a few days ago. Personally, I found the amorous moments between the two main characters rather forced, although it did leave something to the imagination, which I'm sure some of your readers will enjoy."

Lucy pulls out her phone and she takes down Lisa's notes. For a few years now, Lucy has made a career as an author, and tends to have her siblings read and critique her work. Usually, it would be a book of poems or some a supernatural romance novel, but lately Lucy, or as her new audience may know her, X. E. Brae, has stepped into the world of a more mature romance.

"How come you didn't send it to me?" asks Lily.

"I already explained, younger sister. It has amorous moments between the two main characters," Lisa replies before Lucy opened her mouth.

"Yeah, because that's so much clearer than before," sarcastically responds the young teenager.

"She means that it's an adult romance novel with sex and other things that aren't age-appropriate for you and Lucy doesn't think you should read it. Geez was that so hard to say, Lisa?" Lynn says irritated after hearing her younger sisters squabbling, but also due to her increasing hunger.

"Thank you, Lynn," Lily says smugly while gazing over at Lisa.

* * *

"_It's the top of the sixth. The Squirrels are down, with three more innings to take this game back. The Daisies have their star pitcher on the mound, but no one has been able to score. What's this?! It's Lynn Loud! Can she end this streak of bad luck and get the Squirrels a much needed home run?"_

_Francisco just hears her from the mound. Honestly, sometimes he can't believe her and the silly little things that she does; good luck rituals, fake announcing, and her crazy need to be number one, but he doesn't bother to say anything anymore, since it was pretty fun to see what scenario she would come up with to amp herself up. Plus, she didn't stop even when he told her she was being silly, so there was no point in him wasting his breath anymore. When he is sure that she is done, he gets ready to throw the ball, when the sound of Lynn's phone interrupts them._

"_Seriously?" he asks in disbelief, "Didn't you get mad at me when I left my ringer on a few weeks ago?"_

"_Calm down, besides it can wait. C'mon! Show me what you got!"_

_The ringing stops, and Francisco gets ready to pitch again, when the phone goes off again, "Just answer it!"_

_Lynn goes to her bag and sighs. "I have to go."_

"_Now?"_

"_Yeah...my parents want me home. Besides its getting dark," she says as she retrieves her stuff._

"_I guess…" he responds. Both of them clearly lost track of time as the sun was almost completely set, but that didn't mean that either one of them was ready to go home._

_She runs up to him, and spit a loog in her palm, "See ya later."_

_He proceeds to do the same and shakes her hand, "See ya."_

_Francisco watches her go; he is all alone on the field, "Why the heck did we start doing that in the first place?!" he asks himself._

* * *

Lynn takes a sip out of her coffee mug. She can't stand the bitterness from the drink and asks Lucy, "Can you pass the sugar, Lucy?"

"Really, Lynn? Aren't chocolate chip waffles with powdered sugar and maple syrup a sweet enough breakfast?"

"So, I like sweets. It's not a crime," Lynn says as she reaches for a few packets of sugar for the coffee herself.

"It isn't, but I doubt you want to lose your teeth before you turn 35," Lily remarks as she takes a bite of her eggs.

Lynn rolls her eyes, "I'll be fine; it's just a little sugar."

Lucy clears her throat, "So Lynn, is there anything new in your life?"

The older sister shakes her head, "Nothing much, just work, although you won't believe who I ran into – Francisco."

The three stop what they are doing and stare at her, Lily and Lucy began to squeal; grabbing the attention of the other patrons.

"Girls are you okay?" their father asks as he runs towards their table.

Lynn assures him, "We're fine. Lucy and Lily just decided to scare the living daylights out of everyone this morning."

Relieved, Lynn Sr. walks back to the kitchen. Lynn is about to go back to her breakfast, but notices her younger sisters staring at her with a knowing look in their eyes.

"Calm down. It's no big deal."

"Where did you see him? What's he been up to? And how is he?" Lily says in rapid fire, with an excited look in her eyes.

"You remember him?" Lynn asks, honestly surprised that Lily remembered a guy she hasn't seen since she was about five-years-old, "Well, umm…I met him at work, and he was there to pick up his daughter."

The girls start off excited upon hearing the first part of Lynn's response, but give her a comforting look after hearing the end. They knew that she had a crush on him when they were kids, despite her continuous protests that she thought of him as a friend. Now they reunite for the first time since high school, and he's taken.

"It doesn't matter anyway. It's not like I'm interested in him."

"I can see why. Pursuing a married man would welcome some rather choice words from your peer group, not to mention family members from both sides–"

"He's not married," Lynn says to end Lisa's rambling, "From what I heard from the parents, both he and his ex never got hitched."

"So dating is an option? Although, I'm not sure you could handle it. A single man with a child does bring on some challenges," Lucy points out.

"I concur. Not to mention you seem to lack the maturity needed to handle such a relationship," Lisa remarks while staring at Lynn's breakfast.

"Quit being so hard on Lynn, I think it's sweet that she found Francisco again," Lily brings up.

Lynn slams a fist on the table, "I'm not going to date him. I never wanted to date him! Why's that so hard to understand?!"

"Because you're stubborn," Lily says.

"And this is your opportunity to pursue him without your fear of losing acquaintanceship and having to see him on a daily basis."

"Not to mention–"

"Enough already!" Lynn exclaims, interrupting Lucy, "Can we just go back to before I even brought this up?

The table settles down, before Lucy startes again, "Well if you were to date him, do you think you could handle being someone's stepmother?"

Lynn nearly spits out her coffee, "Why would you ask that?!"

"We're curious. It's like a romance movie – two childhood friends split apart by circumstances, they meet again, and start dating; it's bound to happen," Lily says with a not-so-innocent look on her face.

"Younger sister, you seem to be confusing reality with Hollywood schlock. Besides, that's the romanticized version of how things will play out concocted by your adolescent brain. Once reality sets in, Lynn and her former adolescent love interest will have challenges arise which frankly, our fifth eldest sister may not be able to handle," Lisa mentions before a sip from her coffee mug.

"What? You don't think I can handle it?" Lynn asks, offended by Lisa's assumption.

"I thought you weren't interested?"

Lynn clenches her teeth and grips her fork, "I'm not interested. But I'm not gonna to sit around hearing all of you bring up why I shouldn't date someone I'm not interested in."

She get up from the table and makes her way to the exit. Lynn returns to the table and tells her sisters, "I'm not here for you, I just want my waffles," Lynn grabs her plate, gives one last menacing stare to her sisters before she walks away.

"She's going to go after him," Lucy says as she watches her older sister walk away.

Both Lisa and Lily nod in agreement.

* * *

_Lynn's phone dings. She received a text message from Lucy reminding her doing a reading at a coffeehouse._

"_Dang it!" Lynn exclaims as she looks at her phone._

_She shuts her locker and pouts as she responds to her sister. There goes her whole Saturday! Instead of running around and enjoying the outside, she is going to be in a stuffy room sitting around and hearing people complain while rhyming._

_She sighs loudly and tries not to dwell on that, it is for her little sister after all._

_Francisco notices the bummed look on Lynn's face, _"_What's wrong?"  
_

"_I forgot that I promised Lucy that I would go to her poetry reading Saturday, so we can't hang out."_

"_She's the smart one, right?" he states as he tries to recall her siblings._

"_No, that's not the point. The point is that we can't hang out."_

_Francisco shrugs his shoulders, "It's fine. I mean we can hang out another time, right?"_

"_I guess…but still," she sighs at the thought of spending her Saturday afternoon being a dark coffeehouse hearing gloomy people moan on and on about emotional issues that she didn't really care about. _

"_Still what?" Francisco silently waits for a response from her. When she didn't give one, he offers a solution, "How about this? I text you, and you won't feel so lonely at the poetry reading, Lynn."_

_Lynn blushes, "Who said I was going to be lonely?" She starts to walk away from him, but stops, and without looking back at him, "But it'd still be nice to hear from someone between all those depressed kids that aren't my sister."_

_"Okay, then," he tells her._

_A few days later, while she is sitting around at the coffeehouse waiting for Lucy to go up on stage, she gets a notification from her phone, and smiles at her phone._

_"Who's that?"_

_"Just a friend."_

* * *

Francisco takes a seat as close to the field as he can and looks out onto the field for Elena. When he spots her, he whistled as loud as he could to get her attention; not realizing that he also grabs someone else's attention.

Lynn walks up to him, "You're here again? Elena mentioned that you were a workaholic, now all of a sudden you have time to see nearly every practice?" she playfully asks him. For the past few weeks, Francisco has come to the practices; he mainly focuses on his daughter, but that doesn't stop him from sometimes striking a conversation with her.

"Does it bother you? I assumed that a girl who comes from a large family knows how important it is have support," he says with a cocky smile.

Her face turns red, "Shut up," she says before giving him a playful jab.

Francisco takes the hit with a smile; not caring who saw the two. "You know one of these days; I'm going to return the favor."

"Pfft yeah right, you've had plenty of opportunities, and you never have," Lynn remarks, "C'mon. Right here, right now," she says moving her arm closer to him, but he doesn't budge. "That's what I thought." She walks back to the field, and feels a buzz in her pocket.

**Don't get hit by the ball.**

'_Seriously!?' _Is he seriously telling her that!? She's not a rookie, she can handle herself on the field. She is about to send a response to the text, when a ball comes flying right at her head.

The kids gathers around her, all of them with concerned looks on their faces. A series of 'Are you okay?' and 'Call a doctor!' can be heard from the kids, but the coach disperses them before leading her to a dugout to get her an ice pack.

Her phone buzzes again; it's a text from Francisco. "I know I didn't keep my eye on the ball!" she yells to him before looking at the message. When she sees his message, her cheeks warm in embarrassment. She doesn't like looking like a know-nothing rookie, and she committed the most basic mistake ever – keeping your eyes off the ball. Suddenly, she is reminded of when they were kids and how he would text her randomly when they were apart, especially if she ever hurt herself after pushing herself too far.

* * *

"_You know I can easily walk myself home, right?" Lynn said as she slowly limped home after a full afternoon of playing baseball in the park. She pushes herself to make up for that Saturday when she went to the poetry reading and now here she is paying the price._

_Francisco, who is currently carrying her things, slowly walks besides her, "It's no big deal, besides I live nearby."_

_That wasn't really her concern. Her concern is the possibility of her siblings seeing him and getting the wrong idea, especially since he's carrying her things. "I'm fine. You don't need to help me."_

"_Okay, I'm not helping. I'm just walking next to a friend."_

"_While carrying my stuff?"_

"_I'm a good friend, Lynn. I could have just let you go home limping while carrying a duffel bag full of equipment."_

"_You wouldn't do that. You're too much of a nice guy."_

"_Exactly."_

_The two stop in front of her house, "Well thanks for the help," she attempts to take her things from him, but he holds onto it._

"_I was going to at least help you to the door, so you don't trip and make things worse."_

"_I'll be fine. I'm not a baby who needs to be looked after," she says as she makes another attempt for her duffel bag._

_Francisco holds on tightly, "I'm not treating you like a baby, but you sure are acting like one."_

_Lynn grabs one of the straps of her bag, and pulls, but Francisco won't let go. They go back and forth, neither one wanting to give in. He loses his grip, and she falls back with her bag in arms, "About time you let go."_

_He silently shakes his head, and offers her a helping hand so that she can at least get to her feet._

"_Thanks," she whispers._

"_I guess I'll see you later?"_

"_Duh," she turns towards the front door, and notices that some of her siblings are looking at the two, before they quickly duck out of sight._

_She isn't sure how much they saw, but she's sure that they saw more than enough to start asking questions as soon as she opens the front door. _

"_Do you want me to help you to the door?"_

"_I'm fine," she limps away from him, but she notices that he isn't leaving. "Why are you still waiting around?"_

"_I want to make sure you don't hurt yourself."_

_Lynn reaches the door, she looks back and sees him keeping an eye on her. "See. I'm fine. Nothing to worry about." She hears the door about to open, but she quickly grips the door knob, and keeps her siblings inside._

_He wonders about what she's doing, but he decides to let it go, _"_Okay…? I'll see you later," he says before walking away.  
_

_When Lynn is sure that he was no longer within earshot of the house, she lets go of the door knob to face her meddling sisters._

* * *

"Was Coach Lynn okay?" Elena asks from the backseat.

"Yeah, she said she was fine. She's been through worse."

Between broken bones and bruises and scrapes and everything in between, a simple bump to the head by a ball wasn't going to do much damage to Lynn and Francisco knows it. As a kid, she was the kind of girl that would get injured and try to sneak out to get back onto the field, and he doubted that much has changed since then.

Elena nods in agreement, until it occurred to her, "How would you know that? I thought that you both met a few weeks ago?"

Francisco stays quiet and focuses on the road; he isn't sure what to say to her. Granted, he isn't a very open man when it comes to his personal life, but even his own daughter isn't given much clearance either. He seldom speaks to her about his life before her mother, and even then, going back that far is still rare. She knew some things about her father, but he felt like he was just the man that she would spend her weekends with, and recently her afternoons when baseball practice was over.

"From the way she talked, she seemed like the type to have hurt herself when she was younger."

Elena nods her head and accepts the excuse; she was hoping that he would have said something more interesting than that, but she didn't keep her hopes up.

When Francisco stops the truck, the two walk up to the porch, where Elena's mother is waiting for the two. The girl gave her father one last hug before running inside to get washed up.

Caroline turns to Francisco, "You know you don't have to pick her up every day. I don't want you getting in trouble at work just for leaving early."

"I'm not going to get in trouble; I got an earlier shift so I can get out earlier. Besides, I don't mind being at her practice."

She nods, "So how are you doing?"

She always asks him the same question nearly every time that they met since they split up, and as always he responds with, "I'm fine. Mostly work and going to Elena's practices."

"So you finally got the shift change that you've wanted?"

"I just had to wait for someone to retire, but at least I can see Elena at her practices, I can pick her up after school, watch her if you need me to–"

"Francisco," Caroline interrupts, "I don't think that that's a good idea…at least not yet."

He sighs, "It's been years, and I think that I can handle having my daughter for a few more hours a week even when the season is over."

She stays silent.

He waits for her to say something. Even after all these years that they've been separated, she still doesn't trust him with Elena for more than a few days.

"Fine…" he sighs, "I guess, I'll get going."

"Wait!" she calls out to him, "I'm not entirely against the idea of you spending time with Elena, I just think that there's still more work for you to do before we make changes to our arrangement."

He nods as he takes in her words. He wants to prove to her that he wasn't the same as when they broke up, but he isn't sure how he was going to go about it.

"So what do you want me to do?"

"You know what the first thing is, when you get a hold of that, then we can talk about changing things again."

He know what she wants, it's been the same thing for years; and while he's much better than he was before, apparently, it still isn't enough for her to change her mind about how things are going.

"Make yourself happy too, but maybe hold off on whoever caught your eye, I don't want to see you take a step back."

He raises an eyebrow, "What are you talking about?"

"Your eyes, they have that familiar spark from when we were together. It's nice to see you interested in someone again."

He shakes his head, "I-I'm not interested in anyone right now," he tries to convince her.

With a small smile on her face, "Of course, I wouldn't know the man that I've known for over a decade or his little tells. So what's her name?"

"There's no other woman," he tries to convince her. She is about to open her mouth, but he quickly responded, "I'm serious."

She giggles at how flustered he is getting, "Alright, I'll leave you alone, but Francisco, if you need someone to talk to about anything, just let me know."

Francisco nods his head before he turns to leave, "Um…well I should get going…"

Caroline doesn't stop him or try to pry anymore, and she simply says, "I'll see you Friday."

* * *

_Francisco is running as fast he could. Why did he have to be nice? Why did he have to offer to walk her home? And worst of all, why did he lie about where he lived? They live in opposite directions, and now here he is hightailing it to his house before his parents start calling him and wondering where he was._

_When he reaches his porch, he stops to catch his breath. "Made it…" The lights turn on, but at least he was home._

_The door opens, and Francisco sees his older brother __Kiké__, "About time you got home, menso."_

_The younger boy ignores __him __and walks to the kitchen._

"_Still making out with your girlfriend after school?" teases his older brother, as he follows behind Francisco._

"_She's not my girlfriend," Francisco says in an irritated tone._

"_So you are making out with her, then?"_

_Francisco stays quiet; there is no point in going along with his games, but it's the price he pays for being the younger brother to an annoying pest. _

_He washes up for dinner, when another older brother appears behind him, "Hey Pancho, when'd you get home?"_

"_Just now, after he was done making out with his girlfriend!" _

"_He's still making out Lynn?" Chuy jokingly asks._

"_I'm not making out with her!" Francisco loudly declares, "We just hang out and play some games after school. Why is that so hard to understand?"_

_Francisco's eldest brother looked down, and playfully ruffles his hair, "Because Pancho, we like to mess with you," Chuy turns to __Kiké, "Some more than others."_

"_Why do you make me sound like a bad guy?"_

"_Because it's the role you love to play most," Chuy responds._

_Francisco pulls away from his older brother's hand, and firmly says to both brothers, "Nothing is going on. We hang out. We go home. Nothing else happens."_

* * *

Lynn lays on her couch and holds her phone in front of her face. She keeps reading the text message that Francisco sent after getting hit earlier at practice. Sure, she told him that she was fine, but he didn't get a chance to stay and talk like they sometimes do. Now, here she was staring at a screen wondering what to do.

'_Why does this even matter? Why should I even respond? He knows that I'm fine…'_

Then the words of her younger sisters from that Saturday breakfast pops into her head, about how she wants to pursue him. She doesn't. She just wants to reconnect with her old friend that she hasn't spoken to in over a decade. Nothing more.

Lynn groans. She begins to type, but quickly erases what she typed. It keeps happening over and over again, "This can't be _that_ hard. He was one of my best friends, dang it."

She sets her phone down, grabs a tennis ball that she has on the ground and tosses it towards the ceiling, "Does it even matter? We've grown up. For all I know, the only thing that's still the same is baseball. He could be a musician on the street, a scientist in a secret military lab, or a secret billionaire."

She laughs at her own thoughts, as she tries to imagine Francisco as any of those things. He's never shown much interest in such careers, and knowing him, he would have picked something more practical, safer.

As she thought about those potential careers, her mind wanders to how things have changed for both of them. The last time she talked to him was in their freshman year of college and after that, nothing!

"Hmm, why did we stop talking?" she asks herself, before the tennis ball hit her in the face and bounces to the ground. She flinches at the sudden impact, "Well at least it wasn't a cricket ball," she jokes. "Hmm…where did that ball go anyway? I guess it doesn't matter, I don't have the guys to play cricket with anyway. Maybe it's at mom and dad's place? Or in the car? The closet? Maybe someone stole it? But who would want an old cricket ball?"

She shakes her head, trying to get back on topic.

"Focus, Loud! What was I thinking about?" she turns to her phone and remembered, "I could ask him that, maybe he remembers why we stopped talking," she shakes her head. "That's not a way to start a conversation."

Lynn doesn't know why she is so nervous about messaging him, "You know what, time to stop being a wimp, Loud. Bite the bullet and just say something!" she screams.

Her neighbor pounds on the wall, "Would you be quiet?!"

"You be quiet!" she screams back to the man.

She grabs her phone and sends him a text.

**Hey**


	3. Dreams and Memories

**What do you mean you've been a World Cup game!?  
You're lying!**

He has got to be kidding! She was mad at herself for not being at the actual game and he actually went to experience one.

**I'm serious.  
It was for Chuy's birthday.  
He wanted all three of us to go, so we both pitched in and got tickets.**

**Yeah right  
I'm supposed to believe that?**

Francisco sends her a picture of the three brothers sporting T-shirts in team colors with fans and a stadium seen in the background.

**Believe me now?**

She almost couldn't. Cell phones could perform photo magic, just ask Lola and Lori, but she figures that he wouldn't lie about this.

**Have fun?**

**What do you think?**

How can she ask that? If she had gone, he can only imagine what kind of insanity, sorry Lynnsanity, she would have caused. He pictures her decked out in gear, painted in team colors, screaming until she lost her voice, getting a little tipsy on beer; and that was just his imagination.

**If we had some more money, we probably would have tried to go for a few more games, but I had other priorities.**

**Like what?**

Francisco slaps his forehead, and shakes his head at the question.

**My daughter  
Bills  
Rent  
You know. The important stuff.**

Lynn nods her head in response, despite being alone in her apartment.

**Well look at you still being Mr. Responsible**

Francisco rolls his eyes at the nickname. He isn't as responsible as people like to think, but in Lynn's eyes, not putting off homework for the last minute and thinking about the consequences before doing something stupid is enough to warrant the nickname.

**I'm surprised that you didn't go.  
I thought that you would have bought a ticket to every game that you could.**

Lynn looks at the text and huffs. She wanted to go, and she kicks herself for not being able to go, but she likes to call it punishment…and a deterrent.

**I wanted to, but I had important things going on**

**Like what?**

He was surprised that she would miss one of the largest sporting events in the world, especially if it was only a few hours away from home.

**Stuff with my family**  
**Money  
We don't all have brothers who are nice enough to go and split tickets and travel costs**

He nods in agreement. Unlike Lynn, whose siblings didn't care too much for sports, he didn't have to worry about his brothers not enjoying an afternoon of soccer; it was almost a family tradition.

**Well had I known that you didn't go, I would have invited you**

She smiles when she read that.

**Thank you  
We'll go to the next World Cup**

Francisco stares at the screen. She has got to be kidding. He didn't mind the expenses that came from a game being held in Cincinnati, but going overseas; he shudders at all of the costs.

**I have to go, Lynn.  
Work in the morning.**

**Already?**

She looks at the clock; it is getting late. She still has some energy to keep texting before going to bed, but she knows that he won't continue, especially when he has work tomorrow morning.

**Are you free this week?**

He takes a while to respond before he finally responded,

**I'm free this week.  
Why?**

**Can you meet me at the baseball field at 5**

**After Wednesday's practice**

**Sure.**

* * *

Francisco pulls into the driveway, just as Caroline was stepping out of the house. She can't hear what her daughter and Francisco are talking about, but she can see Elena's eyes lighting up as she continued to talk.

'_I guess her little plan worked,'_ Caroline thinks to herself as she looks at the two from the front door. She knew from the start that her daughter isn't interested in baseball or sports in general, but Elena knows that her dad loves it. Their daughter was more interested in artistic and academic pursuits, but that isn't going to get dad to come visit more often; at least that's what Elena believed. So for the time being, the girl endures playing sports, for his sake and to see him more often.

"Sorry that we're running a little late. I was talking to her coach about how to help her improve and I guess time got a little away from us."

That's a lie, but he isn't sure if Caroline could tell.

"You know you don't have to pick her up every day, right?"

"I want to," he says, pretending to be slightly offended.

She smiles at that. He is definitely trying to make up some time with Elena. She can't blame him, they only have a few days a week, and before this summer, work made it even harder to spend time together.

"How was practice, honey?"

"It was fine, but I need to get cleaned up," she responds. The girl isn't too used to running around and getting dirty, something that softball tends to do to its players.

Both Francisco and Caroline laugh.

Before going inside to get cleaned up, she turns around and gave her dad a hug, "See you on Friday."

"See you Friday," he tells her back, as he watches her go inside the house.

Caroline seew the longing look in his eyes, "I know that she's really looking forward to this weekend with you," she tries to assure him.

While he is happy that these moments aren't as rare as they once were, he sometimes feels like a stranger to the girl that is growing up before his eyes. The little baby girl that he held in his arms once is getting older and sooner or later, she isn't going to need either one of them; he just sees himself as the one that is going to be the one that doesn't get to know her as well.

"Are you okay, Francisco?"

She always asks, and like always, he would respond. "I'm fine."

It's almost a ritual at this point. She asks the same question, he responds with the same answer, before they quietly catch up on things.

He receives a text from his phone, "I should get going. I promised to meet a friend in a few," he says as he walks back to his truck.

* * *

_Francisco throws the football at Lynn. It isn't a perfect spiral, but at least the arch is high enough to not make it a bouncing mess, too bad that it still didn't reach her. He isn't used to throwing the weirdly shaped ball, and he knows that Lynn can tell._

"_You stink at this!" Lynn yells to Francisco after a pitiful throw from him, "How am I supposed to get better at football with you sucking like this?"_

"_Well, excuse me for not being a football player! We can't all be like you and run around excel at every sport under the sun," he argues back._

_For the last couple of hours, he has been helping her practice for the upcoming football tryouts, which he didn't understand why. He is a baseball player, sometimes rowing and hockey, but definitely not football…never football! But for some reason, Lynn insistes on him helping her. He figured that at some point she would have called it quits and told him that he isn't worth practicing with, but he knows that Lynn isn't like that, and she would rather mold him into the perfect football player than quit on him._

"_That sounds like quitter talk, if you ask me," she remarks. "C'mon! I know that you can do this!" she tries to inspire. "Your spirals are getting better, and it's not like running the forty yard dash isn't useful for baseball!"_

_She knows that most of her friends don't take sports as seriously as she does, and she did wish that they would, but she settles on them being great at what they liked, even if they suck at other sports._

_Francisco walks over to her, and hands her the ball, "Maybe you should ask someone on the football team to practice with you, or maybe your brother?"_

_There! He figures that if he quits first it will end the madness._

_Lynn snickers at the thought of Lincoln trying sports in general, "I'd rather stick with you."_

_Francisco hangs his head; she's never going to let him go._

"_The Roosters must really stink if you still want me to help after my lousy performance."_

"_You just need some time to get better. I promise that when I get through with you, you'll be able to try out for the team!"_

_He doesn't want to try out for the team. He likes the sports that he participates in, not this. This is what she likes, running around playing every sport under the sun as if she's missing out by missing one sport._

"_I know how to throw a baseball, footballs are something else."_

_Lynn groans and grabs the ball, "C'mon I'll show you again."_

* * *

Lynn is waiting on the bleachers by the baseball diamond that she used to frequent when she was younger. She's fidgeting, trying to get herself comfortable while waiting for him to come. After he sent her that first message a few weeks ago, they've started messaging each other back a forth every once in a while. She's wants to at least hang out for more than a few minutes during practice, but between him needing to drop off Elena, and getting home early to prepare for the next work day; he isn't as available as she would have like him to be.

When she sees the truck pull up, she gets up and meets him at the diamond, "About time you showed up. I thought that you were about to cancel on me."

"My brother asked to meet him real quick after I dropped off Elena. Besides I'm here, why did you want to meet up?"

Lynn shrugs her shoulders, "What? Can't a friend call another friend to hang out?"

"I guess…" He doesn't know why she wants to hang out, but she is right; they are friends and they should be able to at least be able to hang out once in a while.

Lynn tosses him a baseball glove, and proceeds to walk to the mound. She motions him towards home plate before she casually throws the ball at him, and the two silently toss the ball back and forth, until she breaks the silence, "So…can I ask you something?"

"Sure," he says, as he throws the baseball back at her.

She struggles, as she tries to think of the right words to put together. It's easier in her mind, and she's wanted to ask this for a long time. Now she sees him and she can't get her mouth to ask.

"It was after I got kicked off the baseball team in college," he responds, before she could even ask her question.

He knows what she wants to ask. It wasn't the first time he'd been asked, and it probably wouldn't be the last. Everyone wants to know. He was the one who seemed to have his head screwed on right compared to his brothers, and it always shocked people to know that he was a father with a daughter that was almost eight years old.

"Was it your injury?" she asks, holding onto the ball.

Francisco nods his head. "I couldn't run as long. If I got hurt, I was out longer than most of my teammates…I'm pretty sure that the coach called it quits when I tripped and struggled to get up from the pain."

She can't think anything to say, and says, "I'm sorry…"

"Don't. It was bound to happen…I just wish that the dream could have lasted a little longer."

"Going pro?"

He laughs, "That was your dream, now not mine."

* * *

_Francisco tosses her a water bottle, as they take a seat to rest on the bleachers. The sun is beginning to set and neither one is in a rush to get home._

"_So what are you going to do now that baseball season is coming to a close?" he asks._

"_We just practiced football, remember? I'm gonna train, maybe make my own team, then ice hockey in the winter, and just start my sports cycle all over again next year."_

_He raises an eyebrow, "Is sports all you think about?"_

_Lynn shrugs her shoulder, "What's wrong with liking sports?"_

"_Nothing, but it seems like your mind is just consumed by them. If it isn't baseball, it's soccer. If it isn't football, it's basketball. Do you ever just say enough?"_

"_No!" she responds, slightly offended that that's what he thinks of her, "I can think about other stuff. Besides, who cares!?"_

_He is taken aback by her response. They both turn towards the field to keep from having to look the other in the eye. Both stay quiet. This has been the most emotionally charged she has ever gotten around him, and he doesn't seem to know how to handle it either. Normally, she was this carefree girl that would, at most, just get upset about a bad call, now there is a sting in her voice and a dullness to her eyes. _

"_I wanna be an Olympian," she starts, "To be compete with the best, to be on the biggest stage in the world, and to…" she mumbls the last part, hoping that he won't be able to hear her._

_He manages to hear her._

* * *

Francisco grasps onto the radiating pain. His back is throbbing, _'What the heck? We're just tossing a ball back and forth and I'm not even running around.'_

"Do you want to sit on the bleachers?" she asks after noticing him in pain.

Francisco shakes his head, and tries to throw the ball to Lynn. The ball doesn't make it as far as before, and she goes to fetch ball, which only made it halfway to the mound. She can see the pain on his face, but he is being stubborn about it, probably for both of theirs sake.

"C'mon I could use a break," she lies.

She glances over at him every few steps, and notices him taking shorter steps and dragging his feet on the ground. She feels sympathy for him. No chance to finish school, at a crappy job that he probably doesn't want, and physically struggling to do what he loved; that's hardly a way to live.

As Francisco crashes onto the bleachers, he asks, "So how did you end up being a softball coach for a bunch of kids, Miss Future Olympian?"

Lynn stays quiet, and looks out at the field. She hates talking about it. People are always surprised, and she doesn't blame them, because she is too. A few years ago, she was a star player on that field, now she is just an assistant softball coach to a bunch of kids.

She takes a deep breath and starts, "I used to be a like a pro on a team full of rookies, then I became the rookie…"

He nods his head; understanding what she means. That was the problem of living in a small town – it was easy to stand out as a star with such a small pool of talent, but once you stray, you realize that maybe you weren't as great as you once thought.

"It was that bad, huh?"

She nods; refusing to look at him.

"That must have been tough on you." He knows that it isn't going to help, but anything to comfort her; especially since the silence is strange from the normally energetic girl from his adolescence.

"You don't know the half of it…" she says while still facing the field.

It's clear that it bothers her, not just by the uncomfortable silence and her refusal to look at him, but just remembering how she would talk. Sports were her life. Now here they are in the same boat. Her with that crazy dream, and him taking the realist approach; both of them with their plans completely derailed, and having to figure it out all over again, even after years to get back on track, it seems like neither one has figured out how to do so, and be happy at the same time.

"Don't you miss it?" she asks, wanting to break the silence.

"Miss what?"

Lynn shoots up from her seat and looks at him, "Competing! Sports! Being on that field, everyone looking at you, the way your heart would race, the roars from the stands! Don't you miss that?" she begins getting lost in the memories of her younger years.

He does.

Hemisses the carefree summer days spent on the diamond or rowing a canoe on a lake, or even on the ice in the winter. He misses his friends, his teammates. He misses the euphoria that came from winning. He misses it all.

Francisco nods, "Yeah, I miss it."

As soon as she hears that, Lynn immediately grabs him by the shoulders and lightly shakes him, "See! You get it! That itch just doesn't go away."

"I hope you don't mean athlete's foot," he jokes.

She smiles and stops shaking him, "No, but I miss being the one competing. The kids are nice and all, but watching them isn't the same. I want to be down there with adrenaline pumping through my veins, sweat on my brow–"

"I get it, Lynn. I told you, I miss it too."

"Then let's do it!"

* * *

"_And what happens if you don't become an Olympian? What's your back up plan?"_

_He knows that people like to dream, but being an Olympian seems too farfetched. Then again, this is Lynn Loud, the girl who looks at challenges in the eye and fights until there's nothing left to give._

_Lynn looks him straight in the eye, "There isn't one. Besides, I know that I'll make it," she boasts._

_Francisco shakes his head. Honestly, she can be so full of herself if you asked him, she always was. He can see that look of determination in her eyes; one way or another, she is going to bust her butt to make sure that she can grow up to be that professional athlete._

"_What? Are you afraid to dream? What's wrong with wanting to be the best?"_

_He scowls at the assumption, "I'm not afraid of dreaming. There's nothing wrong with dreaming, but at some point you're going to have to wake up and live in the real world where people aren't all heroes and whatnot."_

"_So what are your plans then? Enlighten me on what makes you more 'realistic'," she says with heavy sarcasm._

"_Easy. I work hard, play baseball, get scouted for a college team, go to a good school on a scholarship, and then get a normal job, like engineering or something. See – realistic."_

"_And boring," she quickly comments._

_He gives her a dirty look. _

"_C'mon! Who dreams like that? Dreams should be fun and exciting, not realistic. I mean, I once dreamed that I accidentally carjacked someone with my sister Leni."_

_Francisco stops listening for a bit; trying to remember which sister Leni was; he is pretty sure that she is the one with reptiles in her pants._

"_That's not the kind of dreaming I was talking about, but what happens if you get injured? Your Olympic career goes down the toilet, and then what?"_

"_I could ask you the same thing."_

_She is getting defensive. Yes, she is right, one injury can ruin his scholarship plans, but at least he will be able to find another way to make the college dream a reality as long as he had his wits about him; if she gets injured, her dreams may not ever come true._

"_You know what? I'll just drop it."_

"_Fine." _

_Lynn looks at the clock on her phone, "I should go. I gotta wash up before dinner, and I have to get there before the princess hogs the bathroom."_

"_I guess that is a pain when Lily does that."_

"_Yeah…" she says as she turns around and walks away._

* * *

"Biathlon? Archery? Shooting?" Lynn suggests.

He shakes his head, for the past couple of minutes, she has been suggesting a variety of sports, all of which he has shot down. Sure, theyaren't going to compete professionally or maybe even against people other than each other; at least he wasn't, but something to get them in a sort of competitive mood that they missed.

"Jeez! Can't you pick one?" she asks, clearly aggravated after having all of her suggestions shot down.

Francisco sighs, "Maybe you should suggest one that I can do."

"Why do you think that I didn't suggest football, or hockey, or soccer?"

"Because those are team sports, and I can't imagine that they would be very fun competing one-on-one. Although, those would be better than your earlier suggestions, I mean, seriously, Lynn, are you trying to finish what God started when I was a teenager?"

Lynn gives him a playful mocking look, but he does make a point – weightlifting and gymnastics would probably not be very high on his list of potential sports to take up, especially with his bad back, but it definitely would be fun to see.

"You still haven't told me why we couldn't do the ones I just listed. I mean sure, doing a biathlon means traveling to a mountain or anywhere you can ski, but we can find a way to do that, and I doubt you'll hurt your back doing archery or a shooting competition."

Francisco shakes his head, "I don't know how to shoot, and it also requires purchasing bullets, which can become a constant expense and archery…" The look on his face doesn't have her too convinced that he will pick it.

"So I shouldn't bother suggesting rowing, cause poor Francisco won't be able to get up if he gets in a boat?" she teased.

"Pretty big words for a girl that literally got thrown off the team," he jokes back.

"Hey, they let me back in!"

"Only, because we could never find coxswain or spare rower as good as you."

She crosses her arms, "Apology accepted. So no on rowing? How about swimming? How badly can hurt your back in the water? And we can still practice inside a gym during the winter," stating the last part with some hope that he will finally say yes.

"I wasn't apologizing, but maybe swimming won't be that bad."

"Finally!" she happily exclaims, "I thought that we would be here all night."

It wasn't a sport that she competed in much as a kid, but it is feasible for both of them, physically and financially.

Francisco looks at his watch, "It's not that late. Are you hungry?"

Before she can respond, her stomach growls giving him his response.

He gets up and stretches a little, "So what are you thinking? Burgers? Chinese?"

The two slowly walk back to the parking lot, "How about Romano's Deli?" she suggests. "I'm sort of a favorite around there, and they serve these primo Italian sandwiches that I know you'll love."

He nods his head, and she begins to pick up the pace when he agreed, "C'mon your treat!"

"I never agreed to that!"

* * *

**Fun Fact: The Olympics were originally going to play a much larger role in story, hence the title. However, due lack of personal interest and desire to properly research meant that that part of the story had to be dropped and swapped out for a different conflict/goal. Actually, this story went in a far crazier direction from the original intention with Lincoln as the main character.**

**Anyway, if you've made it this far in the story - thank you for reading, I do appreciate it**


	4. Friendship and the Letter

Francisco groans as the treadmill begins to slow to a stop. His heart is racing in his chest, _'Am I really that out of shape?'_ He looks over at Lynn, who looks as if she is going to put him through another round of 'training'. She claims that she is helping him and that it is all for his own good, but the stabbing pain radiating all over his body from all of the exercise is saying otherwise.

"Can you just let me die already?" he complains.

Lynn rolls her eyes, "You wanted to compete again, right? You wanted to swim against one of the greatest athletes in Royal Woods? Well if you plan on doing that you're going to need to get back into shape."

In between breaths he retorts, "We're swimming, not running marathons, not weightlifting, and not boxing. Why are we doing this?"

"I told you, you need to train. Your posture is terrible, and you've gotten soft since you were eighteen," she teases as she pokes his arm.

"No kidding," he complains as he swats her hand away, "it's been almost twelve years since we've hung out like this, of course I'm not going to stay the same physically. And do you know how difficult it is to move properly with my back?" he defends himself.

Lynn crosses her arms, "Well I'm here to help you get that athlete back. C'mon! You need a massage after this workout," she pulls him towards the massage tables. "Step aside, rookie, I got this," she tells the masseuse, as she begins to work her magic on his aching back.

Francisco shakes his head as he tries to get up, "Nope, I'm not–"

Lynn doesn't listen and continues giving him the massage. He isn't used to getting a massage, or even getting unexpectedly touched liked he is at the moment from anyone, let alone one from his friends.

"Stop your belly-aching, it's not that bad."

"Says you. Have you even been on the receiving end of one of your massages?"

Lynn stops to think about that for less than a second, "No, but only because Mom, Dad, and an ethics committee told Lisa that she couldn't clone us."

Francisco doesn't know how to respond to that, and just bites down on his lower lip as Lynn works her magic. Her hands work his muscles in an attempt to get him to release years' worth of tension. The pain eventually gives way as his back no longer feels the same pain done by the brutal exercise regimen.

Without even realizing it, he is no longer paying attention to anything around him; no more gym music, no lights from the ceilings, or even the musk from the other patrons; all he concentrate on are Lynn's hands on his back.

"You still like cherry?" asks Lynn.

Lynn repeats the question at the man who is struggling to focus, he absentmindedly answers, "What?"

"A cherry protein shake, do you want one?" she asks more sternly.

Francisco just nods and stays put on the table.

She walks away, and turns to see him in place, "Fine. I'll go get you one, but you owe me."

'_Seriously, what's with him?'_ she turns around and sees that he is still on the table, "It wasn't _that_ bad."

At the counter, the employee calls her, "One Mystery Protein Deluxe and a cherry shake for your boyfriend, Loud."

'_Boyfriend? Not again,"_ Lynn shakes her head and exclaims, "He is _not_ my boyfriend. Why is that so hard for everyone to understand?!"

The employee backs off, but Lynn can tell what is on her mind; it's been the same look that she's seen for months. First, her boss, then when they went to the deli, now this anonymous gym employee, what is up with everybody being in her business?

'_Lynn, there's no rule against dating one of the parents, but be careful, some of them are starting to talk.'_

Seriously, did her boss need to tell her that? What did they even do that would make anyone think that they were anything more than friends during practice? All they do is talk, and if any of the other parents actually bothered to look interested in the game, maybe she would have talked to them too.

Then, there was dinner at Romano's Deli a few days ago.

'_Lynn, is there a reason that the people behind the counter keep staring at us?'_

Sure, the Italian family can definitely be nosy with the people they care about, but she didn't like lying to Francisco about why they were staring at them when they visited the establishment.

Besides, why would people feel the need to point that kind of thing out to her; they are friends. It's obvious.

* * *

_She takes a deep breath, and keeps staring at the opposing dugout through the fence. It's been happening a lot recently – looking at him when he's up to bat or when he pitches, but she can't help it; he's cool, athletic, and cute. She feels a little smile form on her lips, but she isn't aware how obvious her actions are to her teammates or to him._

_Margo comes up and hands Lynn her bat, "You're up, Lynnsanity."_

_Lynn snaps out of her thoughts, "My turn already? Thanks, Margo." She takes the bat and make her way to the plate._

_Margo looks over at Lynn, and sees what is grabbing her attention recently. She's noticed the way her best friend has been behaving; she was hanging around him more often, they playfully joked around a little, and Margo is pretty sure that she is friendlier around him when they talk at school._

_With Lynn at the plate, the two are facing each other, and Margo sees how her friend is looking at the boy on the mound._

_It's just unfortunate that he may not be aware of her feelings._

* * *

On Saturday morning, Lynn walks through the doors of father's restaurant; she looks around the dining area for her younger sisters, and notices that they haven't arrived yet. With a smug smile on her face, she tells herself, "Now they can finally stop complaining."

She takes her seat and soon her three younger sisters come in; all of them surprised to see Lynn waiting for them at a booth.

"Well this is an unexpected turn of events," remarks Lisa as she takes a seat across from Lynn. "Did you finally figure out that a.m. stands for morning on your alarm clock?"

Lynn scowls at the unfazed scientist, "No, I was just up early this morning, went for a jog and had plenty of time to get here on time. So now, I don't have to hear you whining about my tardiness."

"And yet you didn't have time to shower, Lynn?" asks the youngest sister, who unfortunately took a seat next to her.

"Do you want me on time or do you want me showered?"

All three respond, "Both."

The sisters make light conversation, and enjoy their breakfast. Over the last couple of weeks, the three younger sisters have noticed the changes in the eldest sister's eating habits; she wasn't eating her usual chocolate chip waffles with powdered sugar covered a layer of sweet hazelnut spread and maple syrup, and had gone back to the protein rich breakfast of her childhood.

Lily speaks up, "Is there something new going on, Lynn? Usually, I'm wondering if my older sister ordered breakfast and not my–"

"Seriously!?" Lynn interrupts, "No matter what I do today, I can't seem to avoid hearing someone make a dumb comment about something different that I'm doing."

Lily snickers at Lynn's outburst, until the elder sister decides to playfully jab the youngest to get her to be quiet.

Lucy looks at Lynn, and notices something in her eye; a little shine to them, a tiny detail that is probably being ignored by the two youngest. She's been noticing the subtle changes in Lynn's appearance and attitude; she looks happier, she smiles a little more, and as much as she'll miss it, Lynn doesn't look like a sullen zombie anymore.

* * *

_When Lincoln called the Emergency Sibling Meeting, Lynn isn't sure what to think, except that she is annoyed that he interrupted her just when she was getting in the zone with her boxing workout._

_Then, he pulls out a letter, sorry, no, a love letter from a secret admirer._

"_Dear L. Loud, Day after day, I hope and I pine, I'm too shy to come forward, but I wish you were mine. Signed, your secret admirer?"_

"_W-W-Wait! Who's it for? L. Loud could be any one of us."_

_Of course Lori would say that the letter was for her, but Luan points out that all of them have the potential to be the lucky recipient of that love letter. The athlete's mind begins to wander towards her friend Francisco, whom she had been thinking about more frequently._

_Her mind wanders back to their most recent game and how, even though they play on different teams, they are still friends first, maybe now they have an opportunity to be more._

_She sighs in adoration along with her sisters, who are also in a dreamy state, Lori brought up the all too important question – who is the letter for, and how are they going to find out?_

_Lucy, powered by her in-depth knowledge of vampire romance novels, suggests a sending a signal. Is it good advice? Yes, not what you'd expect from your average eight-year-old, but it is still good advice nonetheless, and Lynn plans to making sure that he gets her signal.  
_

* * *

Lucy walks through the front door of her apartment with a bag in hand. After breakfast, she asked Lynn for a ride to the bookstore, and what she expected to be a short trip to pick up her order, ended up becoming a two hour errand.

Lynn follows behind her younger sister, "Sorry we took so long to get home, but at least we're finally here."

"Are you sure that you don't want to consider getting a new car, Lynn? If you want, I can lend you the money," Lucy offers to her sister, who is currently looking for a place to sit.

Lynn walks past the bookshelves. It is filled with a variety of romance, supernatural, medieval, and poetry books that Lucy had collected over the years, "Jeez Lucy, don't you think that you have enough books?"

"It's not that bad," says the goth as she took out her latest purchase.

"Not that bad?" asked Lynn as she stepped over a pile of books on the floor, "There's hardly any room for you two to walk through, and you say it's not that bad?"

The apartment that sisters are currently standing in is cramped with furniture, boxes, and all the books that Lucy can't seem to ever part with. She always claims that they are for her work, but Lynn is convinced that Lucy is just too lazy to find a way to organize her apartment; not that the older sister is any better.

"Sigh. If it makes you feel better, we're looking into getting a house."

Lynn takes a seat on the couch, which has a few boxes placed on it, "Now I'm afraid that you'll fill it with more books."

"I like to read. It's not a crime."

"No, but I don't like tiptoeing around your apartment just because you hoard books like a madwoman. Besides, why do you even need so many books? Don't you write them for a reason?"

"I like to use them for inspiration. A new era, an interesting background, whatever mood strikes me for a new tale."

"Anything catch that shadowy eye of yours?"

Lucy shakes her head. She is currently in a slump. She didn't struggle as much to write a new poem, but writing a new romance novel isn't coming as easily; general audience or adult. Lucy needs inspiration from somewhere, but she doesn't know where to search.

"Well, Night of a Thousand Stars, I wish you luck, despite how often I tell your author that I don't want to read you," Lynn tells the book.

"Really, Lynn?"

Lynn shrugs her shoulders. She knows that Lucy isn't too thrilled about her occasional comments concerning her works, but she knows that she was kidding…at least she hopes that Lucy knows.

The older sister opens a book and reads, "To Abraham and Cristiana. Hey, you used my suggestion!" she says happily.

Lucy has made a habit of gathering inspiration from her siblings' love lives, past or present, for her books. The smallest of little details from a slight giggle to nervousness around certain locations tend to give Lucy enough inspiration for a chapter, luckily, she is kind enough to use pseudonyms for the family, so the general population doesn't figure anything out, though it doesn't help when she and Lisa read it and can easily figure out who gave her inspiration.

"How could I not? You wouldn't stop bugging me," Lucy stares at her sister.

"What? I like to help."

"Well you should be more careful…you never know where and when I'll get my inspiration from you or anyone else…"

Lynn senses something strange with her sister, but shrugs it off, "Yeah, right."

* * *

_During lunch, Lynn looks around the cafeteria hoping to find Francisco. After those two love letters and sending him a signal at their last game, she is going to take the plunge, listen to Lucy, and give him a gift to get the date. She sees him in the lunch line, and she gets ready with her jock._

"_Because I think you really rock, I give to you my lucky jock," she flings her jockstrap and hits him straight in the face._

_Blind, he lands straight into the trash can. The cafeteria erupts in laughter and she is pretty sure that some students have pulled out their phones to capture what happened to him. He manages to get himself out of the trash can and take the jockstrap off of his face; she quickly turns her back to him, but she can't forget what she just saw._

_He is bearing an angry scowl as he stomps out of the cafeteria._

_Lynn is convinced that he knows that the jock is from her, and she had an unshakable feeling that he angrily glared at her as he left the cafeteria, humiliated. She quickly bites down on her sandwich and tries calm her racing heart, but she is too nervous about how he would react in private._

_Margo sits down next to her, "Hey Lynn," she notices her friend anxiously eating her sandwich, "Are you okay? I haven't seen you this nervous since the NFL draft."_

_Lynn takes a large bite of her sandwich and nods her head._

"_Should I ask?"_

_Lynn swallows her food, "Ask about what? I'm just here eating my lunch. Nothing weird about that!" she nervously chuckles._

_The jock quickly gets up, and makes her way out of the cafeteria._

_Margo shakes her head, "She did it again. Honestly, she's got to stop and think a little before she acts."_

* * *

Elena stares at her dad from the dining room. For the last couple of weeks, she has noticed that he has a little more energy, he doesn't complain about his back as much, and his clothes are a little baggier than normal.

She speaks up to him, "There's something different about you, dad."

Francisco turns towards his daughter, wondering what she means by that, "Well I've been exercising a little more; I want to be around to see you grow up."

She shakes her head, "No, I mean your eyes don't look tired or sad."

"I didn't look tired or sad," he retorts.

She knows he is lying, and the look she is giving him makes sure to tell him that. Normally, the young girl would see him look exhausted and his reactions seemed to lag a bit, but he's been acting a little different lately; he seems happier and less troubled.

"I didn't," he reassures her.

She still doesn't believe him, but she knows that he isn't going to let up anytime soon; her father always was a stubborn man.

"So there's no other reason that you're exercising?" she asks putting up her best smile, in hopes of getting a more detailed answer.

He shakes his head, refusing to let up.

"Are you sure? No other reason? More free time? A hobby? A girlfriend?" she asks the last option with a little smile on her face. She isn't a stranger to the idea of her parents dating, her mom has introduced her before to some of the men that she's dated, but her dad is a different story and the only reason that she knows that he has gone out on dates was because someone else would bring it up.

He immediately looks at her, and quickly responds, "I promise. Seeing you grow up is the only reason." He puts a plate in front of her, "Now, let's eat."

Elena looks at the plate and sighs, just once, she wishes that her dinner isn't just tostadas with beans and cheese.

* * *

_It's been a few days since the cafeteria incident, and Lynn had a secret admirer letter in her pocket that she had worked on for days, and today she was going to make sure he got it._

_She looked over at him and spotted him talking to his teammates._

"_You may want to hold off on getting close to him," Margo stated._

_Lynn got startled at hearing her friend. "What are you talking about? I'm just scoping out the competition."_

_Margo pretended that she didn't spot a letter with the little red hearts sticking out of her pocket, "He's still pretty mad about the cafeteria incident. I don't think that you should talk to him."_

"_I'm not gonna go talk to him. I was just gonna go and wish him luck," she says nervously._

_Margo knew that Lynn wasn't going to let this go. Rather than stop her, she just turned around and says, "Wait until he has some bubblegum, he seems pretty relaxed when he chews on some gum."_

_Lynn opened her mouth. She wanted to pretend that she didn't understand what Margo was talking about, but decided to take her advice and wait._

* * *

Francisco pulls into the deli's parking lot; his eldest brother looks and read the sign, "Romano's Deli?"

Chuy is surprised; usually, Francisco's choice for lunch was a rotation between a few cheap fast food joints near their job, so seeing the new deli is a welcomed change from the usual hamburgers, tacos, and chicken places that they normally visit.

"Yeah, their sandwiches are great," the younger brother says as he steps out of the truck.

"When have you been here?" Chuy asks as he stares at the deli.

"Chuy, we only get one hour for lunch, do you want something to eat or do you want to talk?"

The older brother stays quiet and follows his younger brother inside. The smells of the deli meats and bread waft in the air, the pictures of platters, sandwiches and other eats are stuck to the walls, even some of photos of what Chuy assumes are the deli's patrons.

Chuy gets closer to the wall and his eyes are drawn to a photo, "Dang! This woman ate five sandwiches in one sitting back in…" Chuy glances at the date, "March? That's insane."

Without thinking, Francisco responds, "And she paid for it that night."

The younger brother quickly regrets his words, and hopes that his older brother didn't notice, "How do you know?"

"Wh-Who can eat that many sandwiches in one sitting and not regret it?"

Chuy nods his head in agreement, and walks up to the counter. A young woman looks up, and immediately smiled upon seeing Francisco.

"Benvenunti nel – Francesco! Come stai? Non ti vedo da tanto tempo," she turns to Chuy, "Chi è quest'uomo?"

She begins speaking rapidly in Italian, but neither brother can understand what she was saying. The remaining family members begin to chime in as the pass by looking at Francisco.

Chuy whispers to Francisco, "I think the Italian girl is a little sweet on you."

The younger brother blushes, "What makes you say that?"

Chuy chuckles and shakes his head. Even after all these years, Francisco still seems to be blind to the idea that he is capable of grabbing a woman's attention, then again, considering his brother's history, it is better that the elder brother not push the matter.

"Sorry, when I begin speaking Italian when I get excited. How are you?"

* * *

_Francisco quickly makes his way to his room as he tries to avoid his family. His hand is stuffed into his pocket, as he keeps its contents from being spilled out or seen. He closes the door, drops his gear. He takes out the envelope that has had his attention since the game and his heart begins to beat as he wonders what was written inside._

_He didn't care that his team lost, all he is worried about is who bothered to write his name on an envelope with little hearts and hide it under his helmet without his knowledge._

_The boy never pictured himself as the object of someone's desire, but the letter proved that at least someone liked him enough to tell him._

_He carefully opens the envelope and reads the letter inside. His lips formed a smile as he reads the letter. It mentions his admirer thinking that he is cute, that he is cool, and that he is an amazing athlete. _

_His mind wonders who could have sent him the letter; there aren't a lot of girls that come to mind, but everyone around school knows that he is an athlete, so maybe it's someone that would go to his games. He begins to mentally list the girls that could have sent him the letter during the game, but none of them seem to fit the bill._

"_Maybe she knew someone who could get close?" he assumes._

_Francisco takes a deep breath, his mind wanders to Lynn, but he quickly shakes his head; she doesn't seem like the type of girl who would send a secret admirer letter, she's the type of girl who would tell you to your face if she likes you. He doesn't want to think about her, he is still mad at her, especially since she still hasn't apologized to him._

_He keeps trying to think of anyone in his class that it could be, but he can't imagine that any of the girls would want him to be their boyfriend.  
_

_He leans down and searches for a shoe box hidden under his bed, and places the letter in the box along with his other keepsakes, _"_Hopefully, I get another letter."_

* * *

"C'mon! One more! I know you can do it! Don't you quit on me now!" says Lynn, as she attempts to motivate him to finish his last rep.

His arms struggle to lift the barbell, but he musters a short surge of strength to lift it and complete his set. Lynn lifts the bar, and sees him catching his breath.

"You're getting there," Lynn tells him. "But you still have a long way to go."

He looks up at her, "Do you ever plan on us hitting the pool at some point before the year ends, or did you just decide to abandon what we had planned without telling me?"

"We'll go eventually, but it's not gonna be much fun if it's completely one-sided," she boasts.

There is the Lynn he knew; she'd rather her opponent get closer to her in skill than slaughter them in competition.

"I think I can manage."

He's been trying to maintain his training schedule as much as she would have wanted, but it isn't always doable. He works and would crash on his couch at home after a long day, meanwhile he is pretty sure that if she would spend her free time either here or outside playing if she could. He has to stop that; they aren't kids anymore, nearly twelve years have passed and she's had time to change into someone different.

Without realizing it, Francisco is staring up at her from the bench. Lynn waves her hand in front of him, trying to get his attention.

"Did you hear what I says?"

"Sorry, what did you say?"

She looks down at him, "Are you okay? You've been getting distracted a lot lately."

Francisco just shakes his head, "I'm fine. Probably tired from work and exercise." He gets up, and tried to relieve his aching muscles, "So what did you ask me?"

"What? Nothing. Don't worry about it. I'm just gonna hit the showers," she walks away and left him with his thoughts.

* * *

_It has been weeks since she sent her token of affection and it has been weeks since Francisco last talked to her for more than a few seconds. Lynn knows that he is still mad about the cafeteria incident. She occasionally hears some kids still taunt him, and while the teasing is dying down, he still refuses to talk to her._

_As soon as the final school bell rang, she quickly runs to his locker to place the next letter in his locker. She digs out the letter from her pocket as the students begin to crowd the hallway. As she glances in the direction of his class, she sees him coming and hides the letter from him in her pocket._

_She waves as she sees him coming, "Hey Francisco."_

_Rather than stop, he barely looks at her and continues to walk._

_Lynn calls him again, but he keeps walking away from her, "Fine! Be that way! But you'll have to come back to your locker eventually!" _

_She sits down and waits by his locker, after what felt like an eternity to her, she walks off in search of Francisco._

"_Seriously? This is has gone on long enough," she says to herself as she walks around, occasionally going back to his locker._

_The hallway is emptying as students leave, but Francisco still hasn't shown up. She circles the halls one more time, and finally sees him putting his books away. _

_Lynn sneaks up behind and startles him, "Finally. I found you."_

_Francisco jumps, but refuses to turn around._

"_Seriously? Are you still not talking to me?"_

_He closes his locker, and just nods before walking away._

_She isn't content with that. He's been moping around long enough. She catches up to him._

"_Don't bother, Lynn. I'm not going to just say that everything is fine and pretend that nothing happened."_

"_Why not?!"_

"_Why should I? You haven't done anything to show me that you feel any remorse, so why should I bother with you?" he quickly responds before walking away from her._

_Lynn watches him go. She puts her hands in her pockets, and feels the envelope that she was going to secretly put in his locker. She takes it out, and contemplates whether to put it in his locker anymore._

_The tomboy stares in the direction that he went, and sighes; stuffing the letter back in her pocket._

* * *

Francisco pulls into the parking lot by the lake. He notices Lynn leaning on the passenger door, tapping her fingers on the car and staring intently at the water as if nothing around her mattered.

He gets out of the car and closes the door to get her attention. She turnes towards him, "About time you got here, I thought I was about to race myself."

"There was traffic on the way and I forgot my change of clothes at home – sue me."

"All I hear are excuses," his watch starts beeping, "Seriously?"

Francisco shrugs his shoulders before he pulls out an amber pill container and water bottle from his duffel bag.

Lynn looks in silence, "…it's still that bad?"

She hoped that the exercising would have helped relieve his back pain, but the way he stiffly walks over to her mean that it still hasn't done him any good.

He nods, "It doesn't go away overnight, Lynn," he swallows his medicine. He stretches a little and turns to her, "You ready?"

"Are you sure you want to do this? We've only being training for a few weeks, not exactly a lot of time for you to make up years of not exercising."

He says to her, "Just because I'm not training with you, doesn't mean that I'm not making some attempt at exercising. What's wrong, Lynnsanity, are you afraid?" he playfully taunts.

As if she was slapped in the face, she runs towards the water with vigor; waiting for him to slowly catch up to her. On land, he isn't exactly a force to be reckoned with, but maybe in the water he'll be different.

She turns to him, "About time. Would you like a head start, you know, just to give you a fighting chance?"

With a coy smile, he returns her trash talking, "I was just about to offer you the same thing."

She points to the other side of the lake, "First one to get to the other side of the lake and back wins. But be real, Francisco, do you–Hey!"

He walks as quickly as he could into the water; leaving her behind.

"You said that you didn't want a head start!" she yells at him.

"Then call it cheating!"

"Cheating? Dang it! Why am I respecting you for that?" she says to herself as she runs into the water to start the race.

* * *

_For days, Lynn has had the envelope with her second secret admirer letter in her backpack, but all she can think about is what Francisco said to her. He hasn't hung around with her as much, he doesn't go to the park to practice baseball with her, heck, he won't even talk to her whenever they see each other._

_The bell rings, and students leave the classroom. Margo notices her friend's slow steps and catches up to her._

"_Are you okay, Lynn?"_

"_Yeah, I'm fine, Margo!" she snaps._

_The blonde knows the truth – something has been bothering Lynn for days, and she knows it has to do something with the boy in blue._

"_Do you want to go to the Burpin' Burger?"_

_Lynn shakes her head, "Nah, I have homework to do."_

_Margo is surprised, Lynn rarely turns down food, and she is rarely this solemn. She follows her friend, "Are you sure? My treat."_

_She hopes that the promise of free food would entice her friend to go get a bite to eat._

"_Margo, I'm fine. Don't worry about me," Lynn says trying to hide whatever was bothering her._

_Margo watches her go. She sighs and decides to roam the hallways._

* * *

Lynn laughs as she gets out of the water and lays down on the sand, "I can still beat you in a swim race."

Francisco catches up, and struggles to catch his breath after the long swim. "You know, it is possible that I let you win."

"Pfft yeah right, you've been wanting to shut me down for years. No way you'd just let me win for fun," she offers him a hand to help him get to shore, "You need to train more, that's all."

He crashes onto the sand as he tried to catch his breath. Lynn sits down next to him, "I know that there's an athlete is buried in there under all that gruff."

"Maybe…he died…a long…time…ago," he says in-between breaths.

"Like hell he did! C'mon! I know that you have one more lap in you!" she leaps up from the ground.

He raises his head, and looks at her, "No, I'm tired and just want to rest for a bit."

"Fine!" she sit down next to him, "But you owe me. Maybe a sandwich or more time training or something," she says with a playful smile as she punches his arm.

"Would you stop doing that!"

"Doing what? This?" she punches him again in the same spot.

"Will you stop that?! We're almost thirty years old and you still punch me like we're kids," he complains.

"It's not that bad, you're just being whiny."

"Whiny? Those are some pretty big words considering that I've been nice enough to never return the favor."

Lynn raises an eyebrow, "Oh? Is today the day?" She moves her arm closer to him, as a way to tease him. She sees his skin yellowing a bit; she definitely left him a bruise after striking him in the same spot twice.

"Yes." she is taken aback by the response, "You've offered before, right?" he inches closer to her.

"Wait, what?" she looks at him; surprised by the serious look on his face.

She wasn't expecting him to be serious. Yes, she's offered to let him get a punch in, but he's never actually taken it. Why now? Why all of a sudden?

"W-W-Wait a minute! Are you serious? You can't be serious!"

He is surprised by her reaction; she has offered to let him get a hit, and now all of a sudden she is freaking out. Her eyes look a bit scared; she has done this plenty of times, and the one time he wants to give her a taste of her own medicine, she panics.

"Fine. But don't hold back. Even though a bruise is going to be much more noticeable on me than on–"

As she talks, he moves closer to her, and she braces herself for the impact. She just didn't expect it to be a kiss, and he didn't expect her to push him into the sand.

* * *

_After school the next day, Lynn walks to her locker and notices Francisco standing nearby and looking at her._

_It had been weeks since the incident, and she missed his companionship. Yes, she had her other friends, but it isn't the same. When the two are alone, she turns around, opens her locker and stares inside, "I'm sorry."_

_He doesn't say anything._

_She says again a little louder, assuming that he didn't hear her the first time._

_He remains quiet._

"_Seriously?!" she turns around and looks at him, "I apologize and you're still mad!?"_

"_Why? Why did you do it in the first place?"_

_Plenty of thoughts are running through Lynn's head, she can't just tell him why; that's what the secret admirer letters are supposed to do. Lynn's heart begins to pound. She isn't ready to reveal the reason for why she did threw her jock at him, especially not to his face._

_When she remained quiet, he asks her again, "Well? Was it a dare? Did I piss you off? Did you just want to stop being friends?"_

_Her spine shivers after hearing that last question. No! She does not want to stop being friends with him, hell she wanted more than that; she wanted to be his girlfriend. _

_This is her chance – tell the truth, come clean, say 'I want to be your girlfriend'._

"_Um…because I…because I…" she struggles to speak. "Because I thought that it would be funny…"_

_She couldn't tell him the truth and settles on a lie instead. If these few weeks has taught her anything, it's that not having him around, even for a short conversation is difficult. All sorts of thoughts run through her head, ranging from possible break ups to eventually never hanging out again, and she doesn't want to risk losing him. _

"_Seriously? That's why you did it? Because you thought that it'd be funny?"_

_She isn't sure if he knew the truth, but she continued, "Yeah…I thought that I'd have a little fun…guess you didn't like it…"_

"_No kidding…"_

_The two stay quiet._

_Lynn looks down at the floor, "But I mean it, I am sorry about everything – the garbage, the jock in your face, the teasing; even for the video that somebody probably took." she looks him in the eye, "I'm sorry."_

_He looks back at her, and smiles, "Apology accepted." She smiles and put her arm around his shoulder. _"_You know, you're lucky that you have great friends, Lynn."_

"_Yeah, I know!"_

* * *

"I get that I took you by surprise, but you know you didn't have to knock me over, a simple no would have been enough," he says as he rubs the back of his head.

She isn't paying attention, she is too busy looking up at the sky and taking in what just happened; he kissed her. She remembers dreaming of this moment as a kid, but now that it happened, she freaked out.

"Lynn, are you okay?" Francisco asks as he looks at the woman who has still not gotten up, "Look, I know you probably weren't expecting it, but–"

"How long…How long have you wanted to, uh, do that?"

He isn't sure how to respond; there were two different dates – the first time and the most recent one. The first time, he was a scared teenager who thought that she would either laugh at him or reject him, and now, even as an adult, he's still scared, but their time together brought back those old feelings, and he isn't going to let it slip through his fingers again.

"For a while now."

Lynn gets up, and tries to speak, but she wasn't sure about what to say. Was this something that they should try? What if it doesn't work out? It's hard enough keeping up as friends, how would it work as a couple? Is she really ready to start, especially now?

She shakes her head. She isn't going to let it happen again; it won't happen again. Lynn feels her heart beating rapidly as she looks at him, her hands are trembling, _'Why am I so damn nervous?'_

She takes a deep breath, and decides to return the favor.


	5. Acknowledgment and the Holidays

**As a warning, there is some Spanish in the past shots, but I left some context clues so that you can understand what is being said.  
**

* * *

Lynn knocked on the door to Francisco's home. She bounced back and forth attempting to hold back her excited energy. Today was game day, but more importantly, today is their first date. Granted, watching sports on tv isn't exactly what anyone would call a date, but it is definitely something that both of them would enjoy.

She looked around at the exterior of the house, and she was rather curious what possessed him to buy such a large home when it was just him and Elena, but figured that she could ask him later.

"What is taking so long? You think you'd be more excited or something."

He opened the door, "Hey, come on in," he said with a smile, as he let her in.

She stepped inside, and looked around; a few photos in picture frames, some souvenirs that he probably picked up at some games and some mismatched furniture. Not exactly what she expected, considering that when they were kids he kept his room neat, well-furnished, and organized, and now, she wasn't sure what happened.

"This is…interesting," she said, hoping that he wouldn't get offended.

Her eyes became fixated on a large recliner and the wooden coffee table where he had laid out some snacks.

"Sorry it isn't much, I wasn't sure how much food to get," he interrupted her thoughts. "Do you want a pop?"

She shook her head and took a seat on the recliner, "Umm…sure. Surprise me!"

Francisco went into the kitchen and brought back some pop, and noticed her moving around, as if trying to make herself comfortable on the recliner, "Are you okay, Lynn?"

Startled, she got up, "Yeah, I'm fine. Just, uh…doing a good luck ritual is all."

"I can't believe that you're still so superstitious," he laughed as he handed her the drink.

"Ha ha," she said sarcastically.

She finally took a seat on the reclining chair and began to watch the game. Her eyes kept going and forth from the screen and towards the furniture around her. Occasionally, she would begin to challenge calls, calling out the coach's plays, and cheer her team on to keep Francisco from wondering about her behavior, but she couldn't take it anymore.

"Can I ask you something?"

"Fire away," he said as he pulled out another bottle of pop.

"What's with the weird furniture?"

He was taken aback. Why did she care about something like this? She always struck him as the kind of girl that didn't judge on something as petty as furniture.

"Does it matter?"

"I've been in your room when you lived with your parents, you were more…more…" she paused as she tried to find the right word.

"Coordinated?" he finished the question for her.

"Yeah, more coordinated. Now you have this weird mix of furniture that looks like it was grabbed from the curb of people's houses."

He nodded, "Close. When I bought this place it was falling apart, so I spent a lot of time and money getting it fixed up. I didn't have any furniture, so I looked online for something cheap. I found this apartment owner who had a delinquent tenant run out on the rent, and he sold whatever they left behind. I managed to talk him into a good deal, and I get a crappy dining room set, a coffee table, some kitchen stuff, this sofa, and that chair."

"Wow, way to win on someone's misfortune."

"I call it capitalizing, and it's much better than sitting on lawn chairs and milk crates. Besides, it's not my fault that the tenant ran away and left some stuff behind."

Lynn rolled her eyes, and pulled the lever to force the seat back, "This is really comfortable."

"I'm glad you like it?"

She patted the spot next to her, "C'mon there's enough room for the two of us."

He smiled, "Let me just get another pop. Do you want one?"

She nodded as she scooted to the side to leave him more room to sit next to her. She felt a something poking her side and stuck her hand in the seat, "I found your Pistons bottle opener!"

As he walked towards her, he looked at the item in her hand, "That's not mine. Was that in the chair?"

"You don't mind if I keep it, right?"

"Go ahead. I've already got a bottle opener."

"Nice. I've been wanting to replace the one I lost," she said happily.

Francisco took a seat next to her as the game started again, and while Lynn focused her attention on the screen, he placed his arm around her and enjoyed the game.

* * *

_The lights flashed and woke up the young boy, he heard his mother call out to him, "Pancho, levántate, ya es hora para ir a la escuela." _

_The four-year-old boy shivered under his covers, he didn't want to get up for school, he wanted to stay under his blanket and sleep until it was warm enough to go outside again. He couldn't believe how cold it got overnight, when he heard his family talking about how cold it was going to be, he didn't believe them; after all, winters were never like this back home._

_He peeked out from under his blanket and looked at his window, which was covered in frost._

_Francisco wrapped himself in his blanket and walked towards his window. He used his covered hand to clear the window and he looked outside; there was snow everywhere, and it was still falling._

_The boy dropped his blanket and quickly ran outside to go touch the snow, but quickly returned to his room, when he remembered to get ready for school; snow is still falling, he'll have plenty of chances to see and play with it._

_As he walked to the kitchen for breakfast, his dad opened the front door and quickly closed it to keep the cold air from getting inside of the house, "Híjole está bien frio a fuera," he complained as he walked back inside and quickly turned on the heater._

_Francisco's mother placed his breakfast in front of him, "Al fin lo prendió."_

_He nodded and ate his breakfast, as he felt the warm air fill the house._

"_Finally!" Francisco heard Kiké say, "I thought that he was never going to turn it on!"_

"_Why didn't you just turn it on yourself?" asked Chuy._

"_Because you know how dad gets about turning on the heater," Kiké complained as he grabbed three jackets and tossed them to his brothers._

_The two older boys sit down for breakfast as they overhear their parents squabble about their jackets._

"_Te dije que necesitaban chamarras nuevas," the brothers heard their mom complain to their dad. __"__¿Cómo esperas que salgan a la nieve con chamarras ligeras?"_

"_Ay no mas llévalos a la tienda después de la escuela," Juan responded._

"_Te dije ayer, que necesitaban nuevas chamarras y no mas dijiste, 'mas tarde'." _

_The two older brothers muttered to themselves, leaving the younger brother out of the conversation about what their parents were talking about._

_The three quickly finish breakfast to have an opportunity to look at their first ever snowfall._

_Chuy walks up behind Francisco and asks, "Do you want to go play in the snow?"_

_The younger boy nods, and the eldest brother leads him outside where Francisco has his first opportunity to play in the snow. The boy puts on his gloves, and both brothers walk outside, where the wind hits him. Neither the gloves nor the jacket are thick enough to endure the cold air, but Francisco tries to make the best of it, as he runs outside, but slips on the ice, landing on his bottom._

_Kiké laughs at his younger brother, who scowls at his older brother. He didn't like being made fun of like that, but he rarely had an opportunity to teach his brother a lesson._

_Chuy hands a snowball to the boy, "Toma esto, Pancho," and nods towards the middle brother, hoping that the youngest brother gets the hint._

_Francisco grabs the snowball and takes a deep breath before he tosses it at Kiké's face. The two brothers laugh, as Kiké gets angry and grabs some snow to throw at Chuy. _

"_Dang Pancho, you hit him right in the face," complimented Chuy, before noticing blood fall from his little brother's nose._

"_Your nose is bleeding," Francisco told Chuy, as he pointed to his older brother's nose._

"_Guess that makes two of us," he said, before picking up Francisco and taking him inside. As he passed Kiké, he noticed the snowball hidden behind his back, and told the youngest, "Make that three of us."_

"_You've got a bloody nose too!"_

_Kiké raised his eyebrow. Chuy gestured to him, and he wiped his nose, noticing the blood staining his glove. _

"_Stupid northern winter," complained Kiké, as he tossed the snowball towards the street._

* * *

Lynn walked through the door of her childhood home, "Happy Thanksgiving, everyone!" She looks around and sees her two youngest sisters sitting on the couch.

"Hey Lynn, about time you got here," said Lily

Lynn tried listening for her parents, "Hey Lis. Hey Lily, did dad forget something at the store again? I could have picked it up for him."

Lisa shook her head and commented, "Neither father nor mother are present. Lori went into labor yesterday, and our parents decided to go to the city for the birth of their new grandchild."

Lynn took a seat next to Lisa, "So why didn't you both go?"

"Too much homework," complained Lily, as she slumped into the couch.

"Scientific research/babysitting our youngest sister."

Lily glared at Lisa, and sarcastically corrected her sister, "More like conducting experiments without mom and dad here to say no."

Lisa glared back at her younger sister, and the two engaged in a staring contest, before Lynn interrupted them.

"So what about the others? It can't just be us for Thanksgiving."

Lisa turned to the older sister, and began, "Lori is clearly recovering from giving birth, Leni is on a business trip and has her family with her, Luna and Luan are both staying put in Chicago, Lincoln is likely with mother and father welcoming our new nephew, Lucy was invited to a cabin up north with her future in-laws and fiancé, Lana is staying put in Indianapolis, and Lola stated that she had tests to study for and did not wish to be disturbed. Thus the three of us are left here for the holiday."

Lynn sighed. The holidays weren't as fun anymore without everyone around. There weren't any more big family get-togethers like they used to have. Everyone was living their lives. Sure, they got together every once in a while, but life is getting more and more in the way; babies, in-laws, work, school, distance.

A light bulb went off in Lynn's head, "We could go the city, you know, go see the baby and everyone else."

Both sisters looked at each other with doubt in their eyes before Lily spoke up, "How are we going to get there? Mom and Dad took Vanzilla, and no offense Lynn, your car isn't that reliable."

Lynn scoffed, "It's reliable. There's plenty of room for us, and–"

"And there's more to traveling than just room. Proper maintenance of a vehicle is required for a road trip, especially when traveling with passengers during a time with a greater influx of vehicles on the road," Lisa mentioned.

"Fine! I can go myself!" Lynn exclaimed before she went out the door, and tried to turn on the car. The car stalled.

Both younger sisters looked at Lynn from the porch, Lisa with her trademark indifferent stare, and Lily genuinely feeling bad that her older sister couldn't prove her point.

Lynn walked back to the house, and took a seat in front of the tv.

"So what were you guys going to do for Thanksgiving?"

"Probably watch some tv, video games, and eat some leftovers in the fridge."

"I have a video conference with a colleague later today, followed by a meal consisting of father's leftovers."

Lynn couldn't believe it. Were they serious? How could they spend the one day of the year where it was okay to cook a really fancy meal for your family and gorge yourself on food like that? No way, not on her watch.

"No way! We're doing Thanksgiving right, even if it is just the three of us."

Lynn saw the remote and dove straight for it. "No one gets the remote, until we do Thanksgiving right."

Both younger sisters looked at Lynn as she took the remote and ran off with it.

"She is aware that you know how to change a channel without a remote, right?"

"I hope so. But is it really that bad to make this a good Thanksgiving?"

Lisa walked towards the stairs "It isn't, but I have my video conference to attend to."

"I'm sure they won't mind. Besides, better we agree to help now before Lynn's attempts get more drastic and she steals our phones or knocks out the satellite dish."

The genius nods, and calls out to Lynn, "Okay, we concede. We should celebrate this family-centric holiday properly, even if we don't have all of our family members present."

Lynn popped out from the front door, scaring the two younger sisters, "See! Now was that so hard?"

The three head to the kitchen and Lisa pulls a raw bird out of the fridge, "Behold father's uncooked holiday poultry masterpiece – the turgooseon. Does anyone know how to cook this?"

The girls just stared at each other. Their dad typically covered all big meals, and while the siblings and mother helped sometimes, none of them knew every single detail.

Lynn grabbed the tray from Lisa, "It can't be that hard. I'm sure we can come up with something."

She placed the stuffed bird on the counter, and looked at it; Lynn wasn't sure where to begin with the bird. Dad never banned anyone from the kitchen, but it isn't like she or the two sisters in the kitchen ever made many attempts to see how the star of their Thanksgiving dinner was made.

Lynn looked around the pantry for anything to season the bird. She randomly grabbed whatever spices got in her way. She opened the containers and sniffed them to see what combination her mind would concoct.

Lily pulled out some vegetables from the refrigerator, and quickly told Lynn, "Just don't make it too spicy. I like having functioning taste buds."

"I concur. We would appreciate having some edible leftovers for the next three days."

Lynn rolled her eyes, and continued smelling the spices. She wasn't sure what to do and decided to do as her dad would do – get creative. She randomly grabbed the containers that she liked best and shook the spices over the turgooseon. The younger sisters watched as Lynn randomly spiced the bird and made a mental note to be wary of how spicy the main dish may be.

Lily sautéed the vegetables, Lisa stirred the gravy, and Lynn was passing potatoes through a ricer. The smell of the turgooseon was wafting in the air, and rumbling could be heard from the stomachs of the three sisters.

"Is it almost ready, Lynn? I'm getting hungry," Lily complained.

"I don't know. Let me check," Lynn opened the oven, and the smell of the bird made their hunger more unbearable. Lynn poked it with a fork, "Just a little more. An hour tops."

"Well I've finished the gravy and I can assume that Lily has finished the vegetables. We're going to go watch some television," Lisa said as she walked out of the kitchen, "Do you plan on joining us, Lynn?"

"Go on ahead. I wanted to make one more thing."

Lynn pulled out her phone and looked for a football game to watch; she set phone down on the counter, and searched the pantry one more time for something else to add. Flour, salt, baking powder, sugar, pasta, cherries, marshmallows, sweet potatoes, dry mustard and paprika; she knew what she was going to make.

After an hour, the timer on the turgooseon rang. Lynn pulled the bird out and the younger sisters set the table. Lynn brought out the food and three sat down; ready to feast on food in front of them.

"This looks good! But do we really need this much?" asked Lily. "I get the turgoosen and mashed potatoes and gravy and vegetables, but did we really need all these sides? It's only three of us," Lily questioned as she looked at the extra sides and dessert that her older sister made.

Lynn shrugged her shoulders, "It's the one day when we can pig out, pass out, and not care, so why not?"

The younger sisters didn't want to bother fighting her logic, and decided that leftovers would be worth it.

"So what are we thankful for?" asked Lisa.

* * *

_Francisco slouched down on the bench, and looked around at all of the party guests; almost everyone was older than him, and the only ones close to his age were babies being held by their mothers. He didn't recognize anyone around him, not the adults or teenagers or anyone, but somehow they all knew his name._

_The adults were droning on and on, but Francisco wasn't paying too much attention to what they were saying. The party was boring and all he wanted to do was eat and go home._

"_Mami cuando nos vamos a ir?" Francisco asked his mother. _

"_Ahorita nos vamos," she assured him, but Francisco knew the truth, whenever either one of his parents ever said those words, it usually meant that they were going to be there for a while._

_The boy began to shiver and move around in his seat, when he heard his mother ask, "__¿Quieres que te traiga un atole?__"_

_Francisco raised his eyebrows, he wasn't sure what his mother was offering him, "__¿Que es eso?"_

"_Ahorita te enseño," she said, before going to get him the warm chocolate beverage._

_The boy took a sip of the drink; it felt grainy, but it's warm and tastes sweet, so he was happy to consume something to warm his body up._

_After finishing the drink, Francisco walked over to the nativity scene that his 'aunt' set up; it was large display with a variety of little animal figurines surrounding a large makeshift manger with ceramic figures of Mary, Joseph, and a newborn Jesus in the middle. His eyes were drawn to a little goat that he wanted to play with and as his hand reached over to the animal, he heard his mother call out and scold him for grabbing what was not his._

_The boy walked back to his seat next to his mother and continued to look around until his 'aunt' mentioned that food was about to be served. Francisco sat up straight as the women passed out the food. With warm bowl of pozole in front of him, the boy excitedly took a bite, only to be disappointed in the flavor; it wasn't as good as he's used to, but he wasn't going to complain._

_After finishing his food, Francisco turned to his mother, "Mami, __¿Ya nos vamos ir?"_

"_Todavía no, tenemos que quedarnos para la oración."_

_Francisco buried his head; they were still staying. He looked around to see if the hosts were planning on starting soon, so that his family could leave._

_An older woman with a book and a candle took a seat and everyone gathered around them. A man stood next to her with a stick attached to a bell, and the woman began the prayer. The man banged the stick against the ground after each of her pauses. _

_As the woman continued the prayer; Francisco's eyes began to grow heavy. Her voice was monotone and was making the boy sleepy. He glanced over at the little book that the woman was holding and she wasn't even halfway done. _

_Francisco mentally groaned, closed his eyes, and leaned against his mother's lap._

* * *

Christmas – the most wonderful time of the year according to songs, but for the Louds, it was nothing more than a chaotic time filled with stress, endless shopping, and little sadness that they all couldn't get together every year.

Buying presents was difficult enough when it was just the thirteen immediate members, but now there are in-laws, nieces and nephews, and making sure that the presents even arrive in time to be placed under the tree. Thank goodness for Secret Santa.

Lynn and Lucy were at the mall; the crowds are making it difficult to navigate between the kiosks, and constantly pushed between the two.

"Stupid online retailers. Stupid taxes. Stupid price limit. Stupid shipping costs," Lynn muttered to herself.

"Would you prefer spending $50 per person just to get free shipping?"

"No, I- watch it!" she told to a random man who passed between the two. "I would prefer not having to buy things from so many different websites just because one family doesn't want presents from one place. That's a lot of shipping costs!"

"So I'm guessing that we aren't going to get one of your usual gifts this year?" Lucy asked.

Lynn shook her head. The family loved getting the tech gifts that Lynn would give them, but at some point it was becoming a predictable gift each year and she needs to switch it up.

People bumped into Lucy as she tried to keep up with her older sister, "So who did you end up getting?"

Lynn turned to Lucy, and with a playful smile said, "You."

"Ha. Ha. We don't count if we meet up for Christmas. I meant whose name did you get from Lisa's app?"

She sighed and said, "Lori."

"Gasp. That's rough."

Lynn nodded in agreement. The point of the Lisa's Secret Santa app was to ensure that the siblings didn't have to worry too much about buying presents for all the siblings; thus only buying for one sibling and their family. They all agreed that it was a good idea, at first, but growing families meant that some siblings ended up spending more than others. For Lynn, that meant buying presents for five people, plus the family members that she spends Christmas with.

"At least the baby's easy," Lucy chimed in.

"For now. A few little onesies and I'm done, but the rest of them," she shook her head, "that's something else."

The two passed by a sports memorabilia store, and Lynn walked in.

Lucy followed, wondering why she was in the store when no one in Lori's family was interested in sports.

Lynn took a look at the framed jerseys, the replica helmets, bobble heads, and the variety of other collectibles in the store. She was sure that she saw a bobble head in his house and one when they were kids; she mentally told herself no.

A signed jersey? The autograph behind the frame said yes, but the price and Lynn's credit card said no.

A Detroit Lions football helmet? That was would be more for her than for him.

Baseball cards? He probably has a million.

"Anything catch your eye?" asked the sales clerk, interrupting her internal conflict.

Lynn shook her head.

* * *

_Alicia began pull out boxes of Christmas decorations. At least one good thing about the house was the added space for everything her family's things. Before moving to Michigan, their home consisted of just the single floor and a small garage, but now with the added space, she is able to put things away and be organized. _

"_Pancho, __ven aquí, necesito tu ayuda," she called out to her youngest son._

_Francisco turned and saw all of the Christmas decorations that his mother was taking out. He knew what she wanted; while he did enjoy the decorations, he didn't enjoy putting them up and then taking them down, especially since his brothers and dad make a habit of disappearing when it needs to be done._

_He walked over to her and slid the large box that she set down towards the living room. _

"_¿Estás emocionado por tu cumpleaños?__" she asked._

_Francisco nodded, but it wasn't the truth, between celebrating Christmas, family parties, and posadas, everyone was too tired to celebrate his birthday; not to mention, that his mother always insisted on a Christmas themed birthday for him, but he didn't tell her that he didn't enjoy those._

"_¿Qué quieres que te regale para tu cumpleaños?" she asked._

_Francisco stayed quiet; he didn't know what he wanted for his birthday. If he was honest, he would have said a different theme for his party, but he was sure that that wasn't going to change._

"_A hockey puck?"_

_He wasn't sure where that came from. The boy didn't know a thing about the sport, all he knew was that some of the kids in his class would mention it, but he never bothered to ask anything else._

_His mother asked, "¿Un qué?"_

_He didn't know how to translate his 'request', and he wished that his brothers were around to help him, "La pelota para el juego en el…" he blanked on the word ice._

_Alicia figured out what he meant, "Un disco de hockey, ¿Seguro? __¿No quieres algo mas?"_

"_Maybe…¿Cartas de beisbol? ¿Ala mejor una pelota? __¿Unos carritos?"_

* * *

_He didn't know what else to list, and at this point hoped that his mom had enough of an idea on what to give him for his birthday._

Lynn counted all of the poorly-wrapped presents on the table, "One for mom, one for dad, Lisa, Lily, the kids, Bobby, Lori, and Lucy, just one more present and I'm done."

Lynn sat down on the couch trying to figure out what to get Francisco. He was always difficult to buy presents for when they were kids, and to top it off she had to get him something good for both his birthday and Christmas.

"Seriously! Why did you have to be born near Christmas?" she asked him out loud despite no one being there to answer.

It already is a difficult task, since he hardly talks about himself, which leaves her with little to work with. Even their 'dates', for lack of a better term, consisted of them watching a game and some light conversations; he always worked in the daytime and weekends were out of the question until he told Elena about them.

She pulled out her phone and looked around the internet hoping to find something that she could give him.

"Let's see…baseball? Nah! But he does love the Tigers…and the Red Wings! Oh, maybe shoes, but I don't know his shoe size…what would he like? Boots? Dress shoes? Running shoes? Maybe…wait a minute! He doesn't like running, or attention on himself, or that milk cake he says that he got as a kid."

Her stomach rumbled, "Cake sounds good." She began to scroll through cake recipes, "Hmm chocolate marshmallow unicorn cake? Don't love the name, but it does look good." She went to her kitchen to search for the ingredients, "A cup of flour, two cups of cocoa, a bag of marshmallows…I'm all out." She made a grab for her keys, before remembering that she was searching for a gift for Francisco, "Focus Loud! This isn't a time of kid cake. Although cake with milk sounds good…milk…"

A few days later, Lynn arrived at Francisco's house and rapidly knocked on his door. She tried to keep herself moving as the cold wind hit her, "C'mon c'mon c'mon…answer the door already."

Francisco opened and door, and quickly let her in, "Lynn what are you doing here and why are in shorts and a t-shirt?"

"Not important," she said as she jumped into his arms. "Merry Christmas and happy birthday."

"A little early don't you think, Lynn? It's only the 17th, and my birthday isn't for another ten days," he gave her a kiss on the top of her head as she got warm.

"Well I'm not sure what your plans are for next week, so I thought I'd get a head start," she freed herself from his arms and pulled out a small rectangular box, "Open it."

He did as he was told and took out three tickets from the box, "Dairyland presents Iceland Udder the Milky Way. They really love their dairy puns."

Francisco looked at the tickets. Despite living in Royal Woods nearly all his life, he never had many opportunities to go see the yearly festivities; neither as a child or as adult. He had seen videos online and people would mention going during the holiday season, and now, thanks to Lynn, he had the opportunity to do.

"Thank you, but why three tickets? You know I haven't told Elena about us."

"I don't know how you and Caroline do Christmas with Elena, so I figured I'd cover my bases and get three tickets for you guys."

He saw the look in her eyes. There was a little sadness, but he couldn't tell what was causing it; rather than let her worry, he decided to pull her in for a kiss to reassure her. He slipped a ticket into her hand, and she looked up at him.

"I hope you get what this means."

She nodded her head and looked at the ticket, "Yeah, I think I do."

* * *

_Francisco stared at the cake box in the fridge. He knew what sort of cake was in there, but he couldn't be sure. The boy opened the box and saw a rectangular cake with white frosting on the outside; he still wasn't sure what sort of cake his dad and brother got him._

_Juan quietly walked up behind his youngest son and told him, "Pancho, cierra el refri. __Estás dejando salir el aire frío.__"_

_He quickly closed the fridge, and walked away to the living room, where his older brothers were watching tv._

"_Chuy, what kind of cake did dad get me?"_

_Before the eldest brother could respond, Kiké blurted out, "You're favorite – pastel de tres leches."_

_The boy crossed his arms and slouched down on the couch; he hated tres leches cake. In hindsight, he wished that he told his mom to get him a different kind of cake, but like the theme, he knew that it would probably fall on deaf ears. No matter whose party it was, whether it was a cousin or sibling or adult, it was always the same cake; it made him wonder if the baker knew how to bake anything else._

_Alicia passed by and saw her three sons sitting down on the couch, she loudly said towards her her sons, "Tengo que hacer todo yo mismo."_

_All three could sense the anger in her voice, and got up to help their mom clean the house._

_This was the part that all three boys hated; whenever company came over, their mom would become a mess as she tried to make sure that everything was clean for when the guests arrived. They understood that part, but it always seemed like a pain considering how stressed the matriarch would get because of party preparations, and especially to impress someone that they knew she hated._

_Kiké walked up to Chuy, "Is tia Socorro coming?"_

"_Probably."_

"_Oh joy," Kiké said with heavy sarcasm. _

_They knew when their aunt arrived it was usually followed by comments comparing the family's living situation to her's or correcting each the boys' 'improper' behavior or bragging about whatever she could; and it bothered them all._

_Francisco innocently asked, "Why is she invited if we don't like her?"_

_The two older brothers shushed him in case their parents asked what they were talking about._

"_Because if mom and dad don't invite her then she'll hear about it from someone else and if she doesn't complain someone else will."_

_It sounded silly to the boy; invite everyone in the family whether anyone wanted to or not, it just seemed better to invite people you liked._

* * *

Elena jumped out of the truck; excited to go to Dairyland and see the snowy event with her father. Their Christmas days were typically spent watching movies with popcorn, especially since they celebrated the day before instead of the actual day. Now they finally had a chance to do something different and fun.

Francisco caught up to her, "I told you to wait, not jump out as soon as I pulled into the parking space," she looked a little down, "C'mon let's go have fun."

The two walked through the gates; the tickets they had were good for the Subzero Ice Cream Room, filled with ice statues, and for the Milky Way Walk.

Elena pulled him towards the ice room, which is unsurprisingly cold, even when both were dressed for the winter conditions outside.

After donning the provided coats, the two walked through the large room and explored the many ice sculptures, such as the pirate ships, space ships, and tropical island displays. The two continued walking while Francisco took pictures of his daughter playfully interacting with the ice statues. Both stopped when they reached a giant three lane slide made nearly entirely of ice. Elena's eyes shined and she couldn't look away from the attraction.

Francisco saw the look of pure joy in her eyes, and despite the constant fear of falling on the somewhat slippery floor, he made sure to keep quiet so that she could enjoy herself.

"Dad, do you want to try the slide with me?"

He wasn't sure. Ice plus bad back equals difficulty getting back up. There were some adults around watching and he was tempted to stand with them, while Elena enjoyed herself. He looked down, about to respond when she grabbed his hand and pulled him towards the staircase; there wasn't much point in fighting and he decided to go for it.

From the bottom, the slide didn't seem as intimidating; from the top of slide, the view changed his mind rather quickly. Elena took the lane next to him, and went down; he followed soon after. The somewhat uneven structure and slipperiness of the ice had him going downhill faster, bumping the sides along the way. The patrons at the bottom moved out of the way and he ended up crashing into a wall.

"Dad, are you okay?" Elena said with worry in her voice.

"He should be okay, but he should probably get on his feet before a kid crashes into him."

Both looked at Lynn who was standing next to him, she extended a helping hand and got him to his feet.

"Coach Lynn, merry Christmas. What are you doing here?"

"Merry Christmas, Elena, Mr. De Los Reyes. My parents went out of town for the holidays and I thought I'd check this place out for fun."

"That's so sad. You don't get to have your family around for Christmas?" asked Elena.

"Don't worry, my sisters stayed behind. They just aren't big fans of merriment and being outside."

The light bulb went off in Elena's head, "Do you want to spend the day with us? We can go see the Milky Way Walk together."

Lynn looked up at Francisco, "If it's okay with your dad. I don't want to get in the way."

Before he could even respond, Elena looked up at her dad in hopes of getting him to agree with her. He opened his mouth, but Elena interrupted him, "He said yes."

"Did you know she was going to do that?" Lynn asked quietly, when Elena was out of earshot.

"Of course I knew. Why do you think I returned that ticket to you?" Francisco whispered as he took photos of his daughter. "She's a little too friendly with strangers for my liking, and she takes it a step further with people she knows."

"You're such a sneak."

"I may be a sneak, but at least we can spend some time together without her getting too suspicious."

Lynn nodded in agreement. He was right. Elena invited her to spend time with the two of them, and now she had a valid excuse to hang around the two without it attracting too many questions.

The three made their way to the Milky Way Walk, and took in all of the sights and smells around them. There were decorations everywhere, lights on every pole, the smell of cocoa and peppermint wafting in the air and light-up displays with cartoony arrangements.

"Look a polar bear juggling penguins!" Elena said as she ran towards the lights.

The trees had large ornaments hanging down from the branches, and the sounds of train whistles and horseshoes on cobblestones could be heard from speakers near their respective display.

The speakers began to play the 12 Days of Christmas, and the light display began lighting up with each number that was being sung.

"Every time I hear this song, it reminds me of when my family and I sang the 12 Days of Christmas every year, except with personalized lyrics, of course."

Francisco smiled at the thought of the Louds singing in front of their house; then he sighed.

* * *

_As the guests slowly arrived, Francisco watched them all. No matter how often he saw them, he didn't seem to ever be able to attach a name to a face; the men dressed identically in jeans and button down shirts and the women never looked the same from one party to the next; it was confusing._

_Over the course of the afternoon, random family members wished him a happy birthday and would give him a gift box, which he would try to sneak a peek inside of, or an envelope with a card inside._

_One of Francisco's 'uncles' stopped and called the boy, "Pancho, ven aca," he took out his wallet and handed the birthday boy a twenty dollar bill, "Feliz cumpleaños." _

_Alicia looked down at her son, "Pancho, __¿__Cómo se dice?"_

"_Gracias," he thanked the older man, before handing the money to his mom for safekeeping._

_He was rather excited about that twenty dollar bill; it was the most money that he's ever possessed, and his mind was going crazy wondering what he could do with it. _

_His older cousins pulled him towards some of the games that were set up around the living room. Unlike last year, his birthday was now being held entirely indoors, which left everyone cramped in the main areas of the house due to the cold outside. _

_Despite enjoying himself with games, the birthday boy's eyes kept wandering towards the gift table. Wrapped boxes and gift bags overshadowed the snacks in his mind; which was easily mistaken by his dad._

"_¿Quieres algo de comer, Pancho?"_

_He shook his head; he wasn't hungry he just wanted an opportunity to peek inside the bags while everyone was distracted either talking or eating._

"_No, el quiere abrir sus regalos," Alicia corrected._

_She knew that look on her youngest son's face. She took his hand and led him towards the table and called everyone's attention._

_This was the part he hated most, everyone was staring at him as they all waited for him to open each gift. He didn't know why he was nervous, but he didn't like everyone placing their attention on just him as he opened each present that his parents handed him. With each present it got easier, but he still didn't enjoy the excessive attention and photos that were being taken._

_At the end of the night after all of the guests have left for the night, Francisco opened one of the envelopes and pulled out a card. A twenty dollar bill dropped on the floor; he picked it up and continued to the next envelope. Each successive card contained a generic birthday message and money for him._

"_¿Qué vas hacer con tu dinero, Pancho?" asked his dad._

_The boy wasn't sure what he wanted to do with all the money that he was gifted, but then he remembered the commercial from earlier that day. _

"_¿Podemos ir al parque con las vaquitas?"_

"_¿Dónde?" his dad asked, confused by his son's request._

_Chuy helped his brother, "El quiere ir a Lechelandia, es el parque con todos esos comerciales en la tele del festival de luzes."_

_Francisco nodded his head. The commercials on tv made Dairyland look so much fun, and he hoped to be able to go with his family._

_Juan gave his son a smile, "__Está bien, pero tal vez esperemos cuando haga un poco de calor para que todos podamos disfrutar del viaje, lo prometo."_

_The boy smiled. He wanted to see the festival of lights right away, but he was willing to wait so that everyone could enjoy the trip in warmer weather, besides his dad promised him._

* * *

Francisco received a text message minutes before midnight. It was Lynn, and she was asking him to meet him at the lake where they would train. He knew what she was doing, she did it when they were kids, and honestly, he couldn't believe that she was still pulling this stunt after so many years.

He saw her and standing by the water, "You have got to be kidding me! I asked my neighbor to watch my daughter for this?"

She turned around and smiled, "Hey! There you are. What took you so long?"

He approached the shore and saw a towel, a blanket, her phone, and thermos, which he assumed was filled with something warm.

"Are you seriously going to do this?"

"It's New Year's Eve, and I've got to do it, for good luck."

"Lynn, when are you going to stop with these crazy good luck rituals? They don't work, and this one is just stupid and dangerous."

"Yeah, well it may be stupid and dangerous, but they work for me. I haven't done this in years and figured I should try again."

Francisco sighed and shook his head. He didn't know why she needs to do this, but he knew that she wouldn't listen if he tried to stop her, so he saved his breath.

"Are you going to join me?"

"You're kidding, right? I'm not going in there. It's already freezing out here and you want me to dive into icy water, no thank you."

"Weakling," she taunted.

"If it makes me weak to not blindly jump into a lake in the middle of winter, then yes, I'm a weakling."

She grabbed her phone, and handed it to him, when her phone's alarm went off, she went up to him, and said "Happy New Year!" She gave him a quick kiss and ran into the water before he had time to react.

He didn't understand her sometimes. All these years, all these crazy superstitions, and now here she was diving into freezing lake just for good luck. Honestly, she was something else. The man saw her swim a good way's out, before she quickly swam right back. He got the towel and thermos ready for her. She struggled to fully get out of the water, and he helped her take the last few steps out of the water.

"Lynnsanity, you're crazy," he said to her as he covered her in the towel.

She was trembling, "Y-Y-Y-Yeah…but-but at l-l-least I'll have good…good…good luck."

He sighed, "Sure, whatever you say."

He placed the blanket over her and opened the thermos before he handed it her. She took a sip, and her trembling was slowly stopping. He led her back to her car, and helped her inside.

Francisco sat in the driver's seat and attempted to turn on the car, but it stalled, "Is there something wrong with your car?"

She nodded, and looked away from him like a child who was about to get scolded. He sighed, knowing the real reason for why she called him so late. He looked out at the view from his seat; there was no moonlight, no stars, just a bunch of a clouds looking down at the couple.

"Any reason that you really needed good luck this year?" he asked.

She looked out at the view and said, "Kinda…but I mostly wanted to wash away the bad."

* * *

_Francisco flipped through all of the channels; nothing was grabbing his attention and he was hoping to watch some cartoons before his parents sent him to bed._

_Kiké tossed a slipper at Francisco's back, "Would you stop changing the channels already?! Pick one and stick with it."_

_The boy stopped changing the channels and left it one the Spanish language broadcast of the New Year's Eve festivities._

"_Pancho, ya es hora para ir a dormir," Alicia said._

_Francisco whined, "Pero quiero ver el año nuevo."_

"_Ya! Es hora para dormir," commanded Alicia, as she pointed towards his room._

_Francisco sighed as did as he was told. He dragged his feet as he went to brush his teeth and walked to his room. _

_His mom followed behind him, and got him in bed, "Buenas noches, Pancho, y Feliz Año Nuevo." _

"_Good night," he said quietly, before his mom gave him a kiss._

_After the lights went off and the door was completely closed, Francisco could hear his family in the living room. It was muffled, but he knew that everyone was talking, probably eating snacks and drinking soda and enjoying the tv special._

_He got up from his bed and walked towards his door. He creaked it open and saw his dad looking at him as he was passing through the hallway, "Pancho, duerme te. Ya es bien noche."_

_The boy sighed; he still didn't want to go to bed. He closed the door, and waited for his dad to be gone, and opened the door one more time. He carefully walked towards the living room, and stayed hidden in the hall, as he heard his family and the tv special in the background. He wasn't sure what time it was, but he assumed that it was almost time for the New Year._

_Time passed, and his eyelids felt heavy, despite his family's chatter. Before he knew, he was sitting down on the floor, then laying down, then he rested his head on his arms and then he rested his eyes._

_When he woke up, he was in his bed, waking up to a quiet house._

"_Happy 2008," he said to himself._

* * *

Enrique knocked on the door, and waited for his younger brother to answer the door. His eyes shifted and looked around at any potential witnesses. When a bright light from a car's headlights shined in his direction, Kiké ducked underneath the bushes in front of Francisco's house and waited for the car to pass.

He sighed in relief, "Just a jackass with high beams."

Kiké knocked on the door again, "Hurry up! It's _not_ that late!"

Francisco stumbled out of bed; muttering questions about who would be knocking on his door at two in the morning.

He looked through the peephole and cursed to himself. He opened the door and asked his older brother, "What are you doing here?"

The older brother walked past him with bags in hand, "You know for someone who does you such nice favors, you sure are an ass."

Kiké haphazardly left his bags in the living room, and walked into the kitchen, where he proceeded to raid Francisco's fridge.

The younger brother explained, "I'm an 'ass', because I hate when you just drop in without a phone call or message."

"You know that's not changing anytime soon," the older brother said as he continued to sniff around for something good to eat. "So I'm guessing that you haven't bothered to fix up that guest room of yours, and now I'm stuck sleeping on the damn couch because you're too broke to get a cot?"

"I'm too broke, because of you," Francisco accused.

Kiké scowled and approached his younger brother. He got closer to his face and whispered, "And that isn't my fault. Don't you blame me just because I was trying, _and_ am still helping you. Let's not forget why you're in this mess in the first place."

Francisco looked down at him, and then walked over to the linen closet. He brought out some blankets for his brother, and took his brother's bags.

"Most of the dirty laundry is in the larger bag."

The younger brother sighed and took the bag to the garage. He searched through the bags and took out sealed plastic bags from his brother's luggage before putting the rest in the washing machine to handle in the morning.

* * *

_Francisco opened his eyes and yawned. He looked around at the dark bedroom, but wasn't sure what time it was, but all he knew was that he was thirsty. He walked towards the door, and noticed light coming from underneath, realizing that his parents were still awake; he opened the door to get a cup of water._

_As he walked down the hall, he felt a tension in the air. The lights of the living room were still on, and he knew that his parents were in the room, but there was no sound coming from the tv. He quietly approached the living room where he could hear his parents whisper._

_The boy tried to listen to what his parents were saying before he heard Chuy whisper his name to get his attention._

_Kiké walked over to him and grabbed Pancho's hand as he dragged him away from the living room, he whispered to his older brother, "Otra ves estan peliando." _

_Francisco looked over at his older brothers. He turned to Kiké and asked, "What are they doing?"_

"_Fighting, you idiot. They're always fighting, ever since you were born," he said in spite._

_Chuy slapped the back of his brother's head, "Don't tell him that."_

"_Esfes lafa verferdadfad," Kiké responded before taking his own shot back at his brother._

"_Peferofo efesofo nofo defebeferífíasfas dificirfirlefe," Chuy said quickly to not arouse their youngest brother's attention._

_Francisco hated when his brothers spoke the way they did; every time that they spoke in code, he knew that they didn't want him to understand what they were saying. _

"_Pancho, just go to bed, everything will be fine," Chuy assured the boy._

"_But I want water…"_

"_I'll get you some in a bit, just go back to bed," his oldest brother demanded._

_Francisco did as he was told, but Kiké's words rattled in his brain. With each step that he took towards his bed, the words kept replaying over and over again. He buried himself under his blanket, and could feel his throat getting tighter and his eyes watering at the idea that all the fighting was his fault._

_He never looked deeply at his parents' relationship; in his few years of life, he always assumed that the arguing was normal for all parents, but to hear that his parents fight because he was born saddened him._

_The bedroom door opened, and Francisco quickly wiped his eyes before he peeked out from under the blanket._

_Chuy looked at his younger brother, "Sorry, I didn't mean to wake you."_

_Francisco nodded. He set his attention on the cup of water in his brother's hand and Chuy took the hint and handed him the cup of water._

* * *

Francisco looked over Elena's shoulder; she was making Valentine's Day cards for classmates, and even going the little extra mile by adding a lollipop and chocolate to them.

He sat down next to her, and took a lollipop for himself, "Having fun?"

"Yeah. I'm almost done, just a few more. Are you planning anything for Valentine's Day?"

Francisco's heart stopped as he looked over at his daughter. Did she know? Was he getting sloppy? Did she sneak a peek at his messages?

"No, what makes you think that?"

"Cause mom had plans this weekend with her boyfriend. I thought that maybe you did too."

"Honey, I'm not seeing anyone, and I haven't seen anyone."

He remembered when Caroline introduced Elena to her first boyfriend after their break-up. When the relationship didn't last, it made Elena a bit sad, not only because her mother was sad, but because she liked him too. He wasn't ready to do that to her. If he and Lynn didn't work out, then what? She would be upset, and it'd be much more awkward at softball practice.

"So you aren't interested in anyone?"

He shook his head, "No, I'm not interested in anyone, or even dating at the moment."

* * *

_Francisco slouched in his desk as his classmates happily colored their art projects. Since the night before after hearing what his brother said, he kept quiet, saying no more than a few grunts when spoken to. That morning, between the craziness of his brothers and classmates, no one noticed his sour mood. _

_He didn't want to be in class surrounded by all of his classmates, he wanted to be outside on the playground where he could play and try to forget his problems. _

_The boy stared down at the area in front of him, which only had a blank sheet of paper and a few stray crayons. _

_He felt a hand on his shoulder, and he looked up at his teacher, who in a calming voice asked, "Francisco, are you okay?"_

_He silently nodded._

"_Do you want to sit with me in the reading chair?"_

_He shook his head. _

_The teacher was about to ask him another question, when a loud crash and crying grabbed everyone in the room's attention. The teacher quickly went to check on the student, and Francisco grabbed a crayon to color a sheet of paper, so to not arouse anymore attention from his teacher. _

_He began to draw trees, stars, water, and a little house; that's where he wanted to be – all alone._

_His teacher came back to check on Francisco and noticed that he was drawing, "That's a nice drawing, Francisco," she complimented._

_He looked over at his teacher for a bit, and gave a slight smile before going back to his drawing._

* * *

No, Tuesday the 15th is not particularly special, at least not for the average person, but it was the perfect day to just kick back and relax without all of the expected pressures of the previous day. For all Francisco knew, Lynn just invited him to hang out, have some dinner, and watch a movie; nothing too mushy for either one of their tastes. Now all she had to do was wait for him.

Right on cue, Lynn heard the knocking at the door. She opened the door, and saw him carrying some bags.

Lynn snuck a glance and saw the inside of the bags, "Really? You still think that I'm a chocolate fiend?"

"Are you?" he asked as he stepped inside and left the bags on the kitchen table.

Lynn stayed quiet, and followed after him. She helped him pull out the various treats, and he pulled out a bottle of wine, "I wasn't sure what we would be doing, but I thought that you might appreciate it."

She looked at the bottle, "I thought that you couldn't mix pain medication with alcohol?" she said, turning her head towards the oven.

"I can't. I bought it for you," he said leaving the bottle of wine on the kitchen table.

She looked at it, and turned to him, "Thanks." He looked at her. She noticed, "What?"

"Would you like me to get you a glass?"

"No thanks. Besides, it'll be rude to drink when you can't," she said as she took the wine bottle and stored it away.

Francisco shrugged his shoulders and sniffed into the air, "What smells good?"

"A surprise."

Francisco turned on the oven light and leaned down to see inside, "Lasagna?"

"I know you liked my dad's recipe, so I figured that you might want to taste it after all this time, but I made it better."

"What did you do to it?" he asked. He knew her; she can be kind, but also reckless, or maybe that was his own paranoia playing tricks on him.

"Nothing," she said, trying to feign innocence. "But I tweaked it a bit and now it's a Lynn-sagna Jr."

"Great…" Francisco said with some trepidation in his voice.

As Lynn offered him a plate, he sneaked a whiff of the dish; nothing seemed out of the ordinary, but he was going to proceed with caution.

The couple sat in front of the screen deciding on what movie to watch. Lynn flipped through the movie selection screen, and Francisco attempted to eat the meal in front of him. Apparently, the difference between the Lynn-sagna from his memory and the Lynn-sagna Jr. in front him was the amount of spice and cheese in the dish. He struggled to cut through the cheesy noodles, and managed get a piece before struggling with the cheese string that kept the lasagna intact.

"Are you sure that you don't want wine?" he asked as she reached for some water.

"I'm fine. Now what movie do you want to watch?"

Francisco didn't respond, which she knew meant that he didn't care. He stuffed his mouth with some lasagna, and Lynn took the opportunity to ask, "So have you dated since you split up Elena's mom?"

He flew into a coughing fit. Lynn laughed and handed him some water.

Despite going out for months, neither one was making an effort to ask about their lives after they stopped speaking in college. Lynn's imagination would run wild with the possibilities of how he and Caroline stopped dating, and what happened afterwards, but she figured that it was best to just ask directly.

"C'mon it's not that weird of a question!"

Francisco stopped coughing and looked at her, "Maybe I don't want to tell you. Maybe I just want to relax and watch a movie and eat a nice meal."

"Will you tell me if I tell you how many people I've dated?"

"I'm not that curious to find out," he knew that she would probably tell him anyway, but he didn't want tonight to be about exes or the past; he wanted to just kick back and mindlessly watch a movie with Lynn.

"Three, well four, if I count you," she said despite his protest.

Francisco set down his plate and took the remote from her to pick a movie. He scrolled through the screen, without turning to her, "I'm still not telling you."

Lynn tried to look him in the eye, but he continued to stare at the screen, "How do you know that that's what I wanted you to do?" Francisco turned to her. She had a knowing smile on her face, "Gotcha."

He turned back to the screen.

"Oh c'mon is it really that bad? I won't laugh. I promise I won't react," she begged.

"I know you, Lynn. I know what you're going to do," he responded before abandoning the remote.

She crossed her arms, and with a huff, "You don't know everything."

He nodded, "You're right. I don't. I mean I want to know you better eventually, just like you do me, but why rush it?"

"Are you serious? What rush? We've been 'dating' for months, and we still act just like friends! The only difference is that–"

Francisco leaned in to give her a kiss, she pulled him closer and deepened the kiss, but he broke it before she was ready to let go. He quietly finished her earlier statement, " –we do that. Now is that enough proof that we aren't just friends, or do I need to tell you my shoe size?"

Lynn lightly pushed him away. She tried to hide her smile, "No, no. I get it…but are we, you know, going to move a little faster at some point? Maybe tell _someone_?"

He knew where she was going with that suggestion. Yes, they've been dating for a few months now, and his restricting schedule made meetings difficult. Even now, he would probably have to leave shortly, and could he blame her for wanting to at least get it out in the air? He hasn't even told Elena that he's been seeing someone, let alone just introducing her coach as his girlfriend.

"Maybe, but for now let's just keep it between us."

"Alright…"


	6. Witnesses and Imitations

Lynn threw the racquetball above her head as she began to think out loud, "I get it, I get it, but still." She wasn't exactly in too much of a rush to tell anyone about her relationship, but she's the impatient type. After five minutes, she gets not being able to tell anyone. After five days, it's still a bit too soon. After five weeks, maybe tell one person. After five months of being together, well, Lynn wasn't too sure, but she sure as hell didn't expect to just sit around waiting or lying to people.

No one has asked, but her sisters, especially Lucy, were becoming aware of some subtle differences. They would ask her all sorts of questions like why she seemed to smile more, why her breakfast wasn't a tooth-rotting mess, or why she was on time for their weekly Saturday meetings; geez, you'd think that they would appreciate those little changes.

She wanted to tell them, just to get them off of her back, but she could already hear them. They'd squeal in delight and then they'd pester her about details, followed by them criticizing her dating life. At least if she stayed quiet, she wouldn't have to worry about her sisters and what they would say.

Lynn continued to bounce the ball on the ceiling. Their whole relationship was more like their friendship when they were kids; watching sports, going to the gym, and some time at the pool or lake – that's it! She isn't a hopeless romantic like her sisters, but she never imagined that this was what relationships were like, especially after seeing her older sisters.

He made a point when he told her back in February; he wanted to ease Elena into it. Lynn understood, but months seemed like a long enough time to let her know, at least that's what she thought. At the very least it would be nice to just be able to get it out in the open, granted not in front of those nosy gossipy parents, but to no longer keep it just between the two of them.

"Lucy? She's nice and quiet, even if she tells someone, not everyone will notice. No, she'll probably use it as fuel for her romance novels. Last thing I want is to be made into a werewolf and he becomes my forbidden human lover. Lisa? She isn't a gossip, but…" Lynn shuddered at the thought of the blunt questions Lisa would probably ask. "Well, definitely not Lily."

Lynn maintained a rhythm as the ball rebounded from the ceiling, before she pulled out her phone. She wants to tell someone, just to get this out in the open, one person to make it easy, but she isn't sure who to tell. There were her friends that ran Romano's, but she knew a certain someone was going to lecture her as soon as she mentioned anything, not to mention that they would probably blurt it out at every opportunity, and there's no way that she or Francisco wanted that.

"Margo? She should be easy to tell, but when was the last time I talked to her?" It has been too long since the two friends talked; Lynn couldn't even remember what they conversed about either. "Paula? No, I don't even know where she is," Lynn slouched down on the couch.

This could have been easier to tell if her sisters weren't such gossiping meddlers or if Francisco wasn't such a worrywart.

In her best imitation of Francisco, "Do we really need to tell anyone? Let's just keep it between us. I haven't told Elena that we're both dating, and I want to be the one to tell her," in her normal voice she reasoned, "It's not like she doesn't know that you have a life outside of work and home. I get it. It's weird, but aren't you going to tell her at some point?"

Lynn played out the rest of the conversation in her mind; it always ending with Francisco promising to tell her that he was going to tell his daughter.

"Soon, I promise," she said in her imitation.

* * *

_The sun's rays beat down on the rowing team as they continued their practice around the lake. For the last couple of hours, Lynn has been pushing her team to be ready to take on Hazeltucky in an upcoming race, but all that practicing was beginning to take its toll on the team; their arms were aching, their stomachs were rumbling, and their heads were pounding, especially after hearing the coxswain's voice. _

"_And stroke…stroke…stroke…stroke," Lynn yelled to her team._

"_Lynn! We've already circled the lake, so many times. Can we take a break?" said rower in front of Lynn._

_The rest of the teammates muttered in agreement; they were hot, tired, and hungry, but the girl at the end of the boat refused to let the team call it a break. _

"_What's the whoop? It's not like everyone's complaining," remarked the coxswain._

_The rowers all turned to Francisco, who has been quiet while the rest of the team complained to Lynn. He was tired; his reddening cheeks and aching muscles made that clear, but he knew that stopping would only make Lynn whine at how unmotivated her team was._

"_Your boyfriend doesn't count, Loud!"exclaimed the rower._

"_He's not my boyfriend!"_

"_I'm not her boyfriend!"_

_The team wasn't convinced and paddled to shore for a break. The team walked to the rest area; leaving Lynn alone with Francisco._

"_Fine! Be that way!" Lynn yelled to the rest of her team, while she tried to pull the boat out of the water. She turned to Francisco, "Can you believe them?"_

_Francisco helped her pull the boat out of the water, and responded, "Actually, I can. It's hot, the sun is beating down on us, and you insist that none of take bathroom breaks, even after all these laps."_

"_It's not that bad," Lynn scoffed, while ignoring her somewhat sunburned face._

"_Right…"he said as he poked her cheek._

_She swatted her hand away and bit down on her lip to keep herself from reacting to the stinging on her cheek._

* * *

Lynn pulled into the parking lot of the baseball field, and took a deep breath. Spring was finally here, flowers are blooming, birds are chirping and baseball season is starting again. Soon, others will begin to arrive, but right now she just wanted to take it all in. It wasn't often that she got the diamond to herself and this is the opportunity to enjoy it the way she used to.

She walked towards the mound, and grabbed a ball and mitt out of her duffel bag. "Starting pitcher, Lynn Loud Jr. takes the mound. This is her first time as the starter and here comes the batter. Here's the wind-up and the pitch – strike one! Textbook! Can you believe the hidden talent found in this school here in southern Michigan?"

"No, I cannot," she said in a different impersonation. "How the heck did no one see her before?"

In her regular voice, "Wow…I haven't done that in a long time." She couldn't recall the last time that she played around with those fake scenarios, but it was rather amusing to bring it up again.

"Loud faces the next batter. She does her signature good luck rituals, and strike two! Unbelievable! She didn't even have time to react!"

"Looks like someone hasn't been studying game footage; hit the books, rookie!"

"Third batter is up to plate. Phew, can you feel that heat, folks? The sun is beating down on that field."

The second announcer quietly whispers in the microphone, "You can hear those hearts pounding, folks. Everyone has their eyes on the batter that the visiting team swooped from New York. Can Loud keep the opposing side down? Here's the wind-up."

Lynn closed her eyes tightly; she bit her bottom lip, her breathing became erratic. She opened her eyes; she felt dizzy and everything looked blurry; without any concern; she threw the ball as hard as she could into a random direction. She shook her head, and stared down at the mound until the sound of broken glass distracted her.

"Dang it," she said to herself as she opened her eyes.

Lynn walked to the parking lot, "Stupid scenario…stupid imagination…stupid everything! Now I have to write a ding dang note and pay for some idiot's broken–"

Lynn ran up her car and saw the shattered glass on her back seat, "Not again!"

* * *

_Francisco sat on the dock's edge, most of the team was waiting for their rides to come pick them up, but he decided to have some time alone by the water. The sounds of the frogs, the changing colors of the sky, and the feeling of water as he wade his bare feet through the lake put his mind at ease. He took a deep breath, and was interrupted by the sounds of chewing behind him. He turned around as Lynn walked towards him._

_She sat down next to him, "What are you doing here all by yourself?" she asked between bites of her sandwich._

_He shook his head, "Not much. Just taking it all in," he said as he looked out at the water._

_Lynn followed his head, but was getting bored. She rarely stops long enough to appreciate her surroundings; she's a girl of action, she can't just sit still like the boy next to her. The near silence of nature _

"_This is so boring!" she whined._

"_Well you're free to go and find something more your speed," he said without even looking at her._

_She stayed put, and rapidly tapped her foot on the water. How could he do this? Just sitting here? Sure, when you watch television you do the same, but nature didn't have flashing colors or loud noises or dumb people making fools of themselves for money. She looked over at him, and wondered what, if anything, was going through his mind._

_Lynn looked out at the water and stared at the sunset. She listened to the sounds the water splashing against the shoreline and crickets chirping away, while keeping her eyes focused on some of the dragonflies nearby._

_She began to rapidly tap her feet from nervous energy; she couldn't stand sitting around like this, she needed to move around. _

"_Is this it?" she asked. "This is what you plan on doing until someone comes to pick you up? Why don't you jog around the lake, or try to capture a frog, or race me to see who can catch out folks along the road?" she asked before getting up, readying herself for that last suggestion._

_He didn't bother to move from his position; he was content just letting the calming sights and sounds take his cares away._

_She took her seat next to him, "Seriously? Nothing?"_

_He shook his head, "Nope. I'm fine right here."_

_Lynn groaned, but she didn't leave his side, no matter how much complained or how much her body ached to do something else._

_When her phone buzzed, she looked at it, "My mom's here. I guess I'll see you later."_

_He turned to her, "See you tomorrow."_

* * *

Francisco sat in the stands and looked down on the field. Since last season, he's made a habit of sitting alone in the stands; not because he was antisocial, he just knows that others will try to start a conversation and then he wouldn't be able to pay attention to field.

A man took a seat near Francisco, and turned to him, "You ain't allergic are ya?" he asked as he pulled out a sealed bag of peanuts.

Francisco shook his head, and continued to watch the kids on the field.

"Boy, they sure look like they're havin' fun," the man remarked as he chewed on his snack.

Francisco nodded, but stayed silent. This is what wanted to avoid; socializing with the other parents. He knew that this man didn't mean any harm, but these small conversations start into something and Francisco just wants to watch practice in peace.

"The name's Roy, by the way," he said as he introduced himself.

"Francisco."

The two men sat quietly, looking at the field. There was a few minutes of silence before Roy asked, "So how do you know the assistant coach so well?"

"Excuse me?" he asked the man, taken aback by the sudden question.

"Last season I saw you chattin' up with her after practice, and then you made that hit against her, without her mentionin' anythin' so I figured that maybe you both knew each other."

Francisco tried to say something, but he wasn't sure what to say.

"I mean, she keeps lookin' over at you when she gets a chance."

Francisco's heart raced a bit. Was it really that obvious? He looked over at Lynn, who was looking at right at him. His mind wandered a bit; the kids were closer, they could probably notice the dazed look on her face, then one of them would look to see where she was staring, and say something out loud. He shook his head, his imagination was getting ahead of him, chances are that those kids probably aren't even paying attention to Lynn, let alone where she's staring at.

"You know when some of the parents were gossipin' about you two, I thought that they was just messin' around, but she really is starin' at ya."

As directly as possible, he responded, "She's not."

"Ya sure 'bout that? She seemed awfully friendly with ya last season, what with you two talkin' after practice and all."

Francisco looked over at some of the other parents in the stands, most were on their phones, but some were talking to each other. "The parents gossip about stuff like that?"

Roy nodded his head, "Yup. I'm guessin' that they get bored and they start with whatever they can get, kinda like high school but a bit more desperate."

Francisco tapped his fingers rapidly on his lap. _'People know, or at least they gossip. Still, that's not good. One loose-lipped idiot talks in front of the kids and that's it, secret's out. No more hiding, and I'll have to come clean, whether I like it or not.'_

"So it ain't true?"

"No, she only wanted to talk since I played ball as a kid."

* * *

_The next day, the rowing team met again for practice. As the team took a break, after a more 'relaxed' day of practice, Lynn took a seat on the dock and tried to figure out how people could sit still while looking out at the water._

_Like the day before, she couldn't sit still, she has so much energy to spare that she almost wondered if she could use the boat while everyone was taking a break._

"_No one'll notice or care I guess," she told herself before hearing footsteps. _

"_Tired, Lynn?" asked Francisco, as he took a seat next to her._

_Lynn snorted, "Yeah, right." She turned towards the makeshift camp that the team set up. "I know that we've got a few good laps left in us."_

"_It must be so hard. You want to keep going, but everyone is too tired from the rowing."_

"_Exactly!" she interrupted. "You get it!" she happily exclaimed, while missing Francisco's sarcasm._

"_I mean why should they rest? What's a few laps? Who cares that the sun is beating down on everyone?" Lynn nodded until she figured out where he was going, "After all, the coxswain is the one doing the hardest job - yelling 'stroke' over and over again," he joked._

"_Hey!" she said, before punching him the arm, "That's not my only job. I also have to steer, maintain the rhythm, keep everyone safe, make the decisions, I'm responsible for our training regimen, be the coach when–"_

"_I get it, Lynn," he interrupted._

_She crossed her arms in a huff. She worked hard, and she didn't like the idea of her teammates just reducing her role to nothing more than just the person who keeps yelling 'stroke' while the rest of team has their oars in the water. _

"_Don't be that way," he said, hoping that she would calm down. "You're a passionate sports girl. You have to know that everyone isn't like that."_

_Lynn muttered something under her breath that Francisco couldn't hear._

"_Well it's not our fault that everyone isn't as crazy about sports as you," he guessed._

_Lynn stared out at the lake, and ignored him._

_He sighed, "Look, I'm sorry, but you have to remember that as much as we like competing or being out on the water, we also need to breaks and time to just hang out. I mean, what's the point of competing we start turning on each other?"_

_She rolled her eyes, "Fine! I won't push the team so much, just don't complain when we lose against Hazeltucky."_

_He turned towards his teammates; they initially sent him over to talk some sense into Lynn, but after seeing them whisper while pointing out to them, he wonders about what they really had in mind._

* * *

Francisco looked at the screen as he finished off his pop, and asked Lynn, "Did you know that the parents gossip about us?"

"Yeah, why?" she asked before handing him another bottle.

"You knew!? Why didn't you tell me?"

"I didn't think that it was that big of a deal. So they gossip like a bunch of teenagers, who cares?" Lynn remarked as she stared at the television screen. She turned over to the man, "Don't be upset, besides it's not like people haven't thought this before. Remember high school?"

Francisco groaned, "Don't remind me. Any time we hung out, it was the same thing."

Both started, "Are you two dating? You should, you'd make a really cute couple. Sometimes friends can become more than just friends, you know," they laughed after their imitation.

He sighed, he doesn't like thinking too much about high school.

Lynn looked over and saw that his eyes darkened a bit, she placed her hand on his back, "Are you okay?"

He looked at his watch, and pulled out his amber bottle to take a pain pill. "I'm fine."

"You know my offer still stands, if you want to talk," she reminded him.

Ever since Francisco's injury, Lynn offered to let him talk to her about what was on his mind, but he rarely took the opportunity to do so. Normally, she would pester him over and over again to get him to talk, but he learned to be firm to get her off of his back. There was nothing that he had to talk about, and there was nothing that he wanted to share with her at the moment.

Francisco turned to her, "Lynn, there's nothing to say. It's the same injury, and it's no big deal."

"Fine, but don't say that I don't offer," she huffed. Lately, she noticed that any time high school got brought up, he would get this solemn look on his face and stay quiet. It drove her nuts, but she knew that he wasn't going to open up, and forcing him to talk was just going to drive him further into silence.

He looked at his watch again, "I should get going. I've got to get up early for work tomorrow."

"Now? But the game isn't over. C'mon, I think you can watch a few more minutes."

He looked at the screen and then at her, and shook his head, "I can't. I'll watch the highlights online tomorrow."

It was happening again. Their time spent together cut short by his work, "You know, you could probably call in sick, get a day off, sleep in, we can get breakfast," she started rambling about how they could spend his hypothetical day off.

"Lynn, Lynn!" he tried to get her attention before giving her a brief kiss to get her back on track, "I'll see you later."

"Wait! Before you go," she stopped him, "Have you talked to Elena , you know, about us?"

He wasn't sure what brought that question on, but he was sure that she wasn't going to like that after so much time he hasn't even mentioned the idea to the girl, "Yeah, I've told her that I'm seeing someone."

"Did she ask who?" she nervously asked.

He nodded, "Yeah, but I haven't told her yet. I said that I'll let her know before I introduce you…you know, as my girlfriend."

He didn't want to lie, but he didn't feel like ending tonight with an argument or hearing Lynn ask questions about why he still hasn't brought up the relationship, besides he knows that she can hold off for a few more weeks.

* * *

_After practice, Francisco hung out by the dock again._

"_Jeez, you look and act like some old man staring out at the sunset," Lynn remarked from behind._

_The boy shrugged his shoulder. He likes the tranquility, even though he was sure that the girl behind him did not. He never bothered to ask much about her family or what it's like to grow up with such a large number of siblings, but assumptions could easily be made._

_She sat down next to him, and kicked her feet in the water; she needed to do something rather than sit in silence._

"_You know you're scaring the fish, right?"_

_Lynn groaned, "You sound like Lana. Don't scare the fish, Lynn. There are probably delicate fish eggs underwater. I get it! Nature! Good!"_

_Francisco stopped to think about who Lana was, but didn't bother trying for too long. No matter how hard he tried, he could never attach a sisters' name with a face or talent; probably didn't help that he's only seen them in the stands for minutes at a time._

"_Have you even gone camping, Lynn?" he asked out of the blue._

_She turned to him, wondering why he brought that up, "Umm yeah, it stinks. The bears, the hard ground, the mosquitoes, why?"_

_He shook his head, "Just wondering…"_

_Silence again._

"_So have you gone? Camping that is," she asked._

_Francisco shook his head again, "Nope, but I've wanted to. It seems like it would be nice – the fresh air, the campfire, the stars shining down on you, the sound of nature all around, it just seems nice and fun."_

"_You know what fun is?" she joked._

_He scowled at her. "Yes, I know how to have fun. I'm only serious, because one of us has to be the level-headed one."_

"_What does that mean?"she asked, before standing up to look down on him._

_He got up and looked her straight in the eye, "You know what that means." He had little mischievous glint in his eyes that she missed, "But to be fair, I can have a fun side too."_

_Those were the last words he said before he walked away._

_Lynn rolled her eyes as he walked away from her; she turned around and faced the water and heard footsteps before she was pushed into the lake._

"_Was that fun enough for you?"_

* * *

Elena looked over at Lynn from the dugout, while her teammates were enjoying their snack; she gazed at what had the assistant coach's attention. She quietly walked out of the dugout, and saw her father. Last season, she remembered seeing the two of them talk, but it was never privately or for more than a few minutes.

Lynn walked towards Francisco, and the two started chatting. Elena saw the two adults; she saw her smiling a bit, saw dad in his usual direct body language. For a few minutes, it was just them talking; the girl just kept an eye on the two until she realized that there was no point in monitoring them. She turned to go back into the dugout with her team, when she noticed some adults whispering with each other and pointing at the pair.

The girl bit down on her lower lip; she wanted to know what they were talking about and why they were pointing at the two. Curiosity got the best of the girl and she made an attempt to get closer to the stands.

"Elena, where are you going? Coach is calling us," said one of the players.

"I was going to ask my dad if he had any pointers for me after watching me," she lied.

She casually walked towards the stands and tried to listen in on the conversations that the adults were having.

"See! I told you that she's interested in him," one woman said to another.

"At least you can tell with her, you can't tell if _he's_ interested," responded the other woman.

"Then again, does he ever talk with anyone? He just sits there quietly like some creep."

"We'll he talks with Lynn, and he's talking to Roy again."

Elena looked at her dad; the women were right, it was difficult to tell if he was interested, especially with her demeanor, "Maybe he wasn't lying after all," she sadly said to herself.

She saw her dad sit back down and Lynn walk back onto the field with a smile on her face, _'Poor Coach Lynn.'_

* * *

_Lynn emerged from the water and looked at the boy, who had a smile on his face. "Seriously? That's how you show me that you can be fun?"_

_He nodded his head a little, "A bit more unexpected, I guess."_

"_I guess," she says in a mocking tone. She scowled at him, "Well do you plan on just standing there or are you going to help me outta the water?"_

_He leaned down, and extended his arm out, and before he could react, Lynn pulled him into the lake. He emerges from the water; annoyed at the smug look on her face._

"_Ha!" she yells with a satisfied smile. "Guess I can be fun too."_

_Francisco splashes her, which Lynn happily returns to him._

_The two swam towards the shore and as they got closer to land, the two would occasionally splash each other or kick water towards the other. Before they got out of the water, Lynn began to laugh._

"_What's wrong with you?"_

_Between her laughs, she was finally able to say, "It's just nice to you act like a kid who can actually enjoy himself."_

_He turned to her, "I can enjoy myself."_

"_Yeah, if you weren't always such an old man," she said as she wrapped her arm around his shoulder. "All I've seen you do is just train and then go and sit on the dock. Never once, have I seen you run around having fun like everyone else."_

"_Do you actually want me to be like everyone else?" As she thought about it, he pressed his head closer to her's. "By the way, I'm hoping you hit a growth spurt soon, because this is a bit uncomfortable." He laughed._

"_Well no one's telling you put your head side-by-side with mine," she jokingly complained, as she pushed him to the side._

_Lynn walked ahead of him. She was glad that her face was a bit sunburned at the moment, because she didn't feel like hearing his questions. _

_Francisco caught up to her, "So you never answered my question."_

_She pretended that she didn't hear him, and walked ahead of him with a smile on her face._

_He followed behind her, "If you don't say anything I guess I'll have to stay the same as I've always been,"_

_The smile on her face grew a bit; she could live with that._

* * *

For the rest of practice, Elena couldn't concentrate; she kept thinking about what those women were saying. She wondered how long it had gone on for, and if it was just those two or everyone that bothered to pay attention to her dad and Lynn. She never heard parents talk about them before, but she assumed that they only did it amongst themselves and not with their kids.

"Look alive, Elena!" yelled Lynn.

The girl was snapped out of her thoughts and saw a ball headed her way. She moved out of the way, and the ball flew past her.

She could see her dad groan in the stands. She knew that he wasn't going to say a thing, but his silence was definitely going to say everything. She wanted to quit baseball so badly, but for now, it was the main thing that lets her see him besides the weekend.

"Sorry, the sun was in my eyes," she apologized to her teammates.

Now where was she? Oh right, dad and coach Lynn. Elena wished that her dad wasn't so adamant about being alone; she wanted him to be happy or at least try. Her mom would mention that he had an infectious smile, gentle eyes, and a calming air when they were dating; she just wished that she could have seen it. Instead, most of her memories were of a stern man who would probably struggle with a simple grin.

Elena looked at Lynn, she was going to ask her if she was interested in her dad, or at least see what, if any, intentions she had with her dad.

All she had to do now was wait for the two of them to be alone.

When practice came to a close, the girl took a deep breath and tried to approach the assistant coach alone in the dugout before the woman had an opportunity to walk towards her dad.

"Coach Lynn, can I talk to you?"

"Sure, what is it?" she asked.

Elena stayed seated, but she couldn't say anything with her teammates around. Lynn noticed the girl's nervousness and took a seat next to her as they waited for the other children to leave the dugout.

"So what's bothering you?"

The girl looked at the assistant coach, "It's my dad. I've noticed that you seem to talk to him a whole lot." Lynn couldn't argue with that; it's true, they always talk. Elena continued, "And I don't think that he's interested in you, like you are."

Lynn nervously got up from her seat and turned around to face the girl, "What are you talking about? I'm not interested in your dad."

Hearing those words come out of her mouth bothered her. It wasn't just the lying, but having to pretend with everyone around them, and why? Because Francisco hasn't told his daughter about their relationship, because she decides to go along with his shenanigans, or because they just act like friends.

What has even changed since they were teenagers? They were older and had responsibilities, but overall it was the same. The two hang out, watch a game, go to the gym, and get a bite to eat – exactly what they used to do over twelve years ago. There isn't romance. She isn't like some teenager who didn't know what to expect in a relationship, she knows what to expect, and honestly, she isn't sure if either one of them is feeling more than just an occasional spark.

"I know, it's just…" she struggled to find the right words. "He's told me that he has no interest in dating and I didn't want you to try and get hurt when I knew that he wasn't going to say yes."

Lynn kneeled down and looked at the girl, "Don't worry about me. Besides, it's just nice to have someone to talk to who also likes baseball."

There she goes lying again. Yes, when they're at practice they keep their relationship more professional, so she was telling the truth, but that isn't the only reason that they talk.

"Besides," Lynn continued, "Adults can change their minds."

There. She took a step closer to telling Elena the truth about the relationship, even though she shouldn't. She should let Francisco handle it, but it's just a tiny step, it shouldn't cause too much damage.

"I guess, but he seemed pretty sure about not wanting a girlfriend when I asked a few weeks ago."

Lynn nodded her head, "Well I should probably get going." She got up and began walking towards the parking lot, "See you next week for practice."

"Wait! Don't you normally talk with my dad afterwards?"

Lynn shrugged her shoulder, "I need to go get my car window fixed, I've been putting it off, besides what's one day off?"


	7. Highs and Lows

Lynn walked into her apartment, and quietly closed the door. She took a deep breath, _'Seriously? He told her that he wasn't even interested in dating anyone. How the hell is he going to tell her that we're dating when he can't even say something as easy as that?'_

Her phone buzzed; it was Francisco. She tossed the phone to the side and just tried to gather her thoughts as best as she can. She wasn't one to talk, after all, she hasn't even told anyone that either, but it's not like she goes around telling people that she's never going to date.

Lynn's phone buzzed again; out of habit she checked the caller ID, "Margo?"

She surprised by the sudden call. The two friends haven't talked for in so long and now out of the blue, Margo was calling her. Lynn answered the phone, "Hello?"

"Hello? Lynn, I know it's been a while, but how have you been?"

Lynn laughed, "I'm good. Just surprised, I haven't heard from you in so long. So how are you and my favorite Space Case doing?"

Margo chuckled at the silly nickname that Lynn insisted on for her husband, "We're doing fine. How are you doing?"

"You know same old same old," there she goes too; not even telling her best friend.

"Good, good…umm…There was actually a reason that I umm…called."

Lynn braced herself, the nervousness in Margo's voice made her think that maybe there was something wrong, like she's sick, or needs a transplant, or Tom quitting his job to work on that boardwalk that Margo mentioned once.

"Lynn, are you still there?"

Lynn shook her head and regained her composure, "Yeah, I'm still here, so what's the big news?"

"Tom and I are having a baby," she proudly announced.

Lynn stared out into space, _'Wow…Margo and Tom are gonna be parents.'_

"Congratulations, so when are you due?"

"May, I'm really nervous especially when it's just around the corner."

"Yeah, I bet. Wait a minute, May!? You're due in two months and you're just telling me this news today? What the heck, Margo!" Lynn feigned being hurt, "So you don't want me there for the big day? You know what, I'll find tickets online and I'll see you then, and believe me, I'm not gonna miss this big event."

Surprised, Margo commented, "Lynn, you were sick last time, I'm not upset that you missed my wedding. You don't have to come down here, you know."

"I know, but I felt bad for missing it after I said that I would be there. So, now I'm going to be there for this big day," Lynn said. She genuinely was bothered that she missed her best friend's wedding because she couldn't even get out of bed that day.

Margo sighed, and shook her head despite Lynn not being able to see it, "I guess there's no point in trying to stop you, is there?"

"You got that right, so I'll see you in May?"

Margo quickly stopped her, "Or a few weeks, maybe months later, when I'm settled in with the baby."

Lynn was about to shoot her down, but realized what Margo was trying to tell her. It would be difficult to worry about a houseguest and a newborn, so there was no need for her to just show up on the day of just to see the baby. Besides, summers seem to be like hell if Margo is to be believed, so she figured that maybe visiting in a cooler month would be better.

"Great! And next time don't wait don't wait two months before you're due to tell me," Lynn joked.

Margo laughed, "I promise. So how's everyone in Royal Woods?"

Her eyes wandered to the cabinets in her kitchen, "Everyone's great," she said quickly.

* * *

_Lynn checked on her phone for the building name, "Hopefully, they have a slot available for me," she said to herself as she walked towards the tutoring center. _

"_Finally!" she exclaimed as she found the building._

_She walks inside and sees a group of students walking down the hall. She blindly follows after them and is led right out on the other side of the building, "Whoops, wrong way."_

_Lynn goes back the way she came and finds the Science Learning Center. She isn't fond of idea of tutoring, but her teammates and coach recommended getting on top of her grades as soon as possible so that she doesn't fall behind. Rather than fight the idea, she went along with it and searched for a tutor._

_The room was filled with students who were looking through their textbooks and assignments, but Lynn shrugged them off and walked to the front desk to get herself a tutor._

_The woman behind the counter asked Lynn, "May I help you?"_

"_Yeah, I need a tutor for Biology 171."_

"_Did you make an appointment?"_

_Lynn shook her head._

"_Well we have drop-in tutoring that's about to start at four. I'll just take your name to put it on the list and you can take a seat if you'd like," offered the woman._

_Lynn gave the woman the information and turned towards the seating area, which was still occupied by other students. She took a seat on the floor, and pulled out a tennis ball to toss around while she waited for the drop-in tutoring to start. _

_She tossed the ball, then she began to roll it, followed by flicking it a short distance. Each time she looked at the clock and couldn't believe how little time had passed since she last checked._

_She continued to flick the ball, but lost control of it as a man walked through the door. He looked down at the ball and kicked it outside before walking towards the desk._

"_Hey!" she yelled at the man before chasing after her tennis ball. When she returned she confronted him, "You didn't have to kick my ball out the door!" _

_He scoffed, "This isn't a playground, it's a learning center. You can play outside with the other ball jockeys, but if you're going to be here at least make some attempt to look like you're interested in learning." _

_Lynn balled up her fist and was about to rebut, when the woman behind the counter called her out, "Ms. Loud, the biology drop-in tutor has arrived," she said gesturing towards the man in front of her. _

_Both glared at one another; neither one happy about the bad start._

_He held out his hand and introduced himself, "Cesar."_

_She hesitated to return the gesture, "Lynn."_

_Cesar led the way, and Lynn dragged her feet as the two of them walked to the Chemistry Building. When they arrived in the study room, both of them took a seat, and Cesar took out some dry erase markers, papers, and the biology textbook._

"_Aren't you going to take out some your class materials? A textbook? Some notes? Homework?"_

_Lynn shook her head, "I didn't bring any of that stuff."_

"_So how do you want me to help you?"_

"_I don't know? What have you taught other students?"_

_Cesar took a deep breath, "Okay, I'll get a practice test so that I can see what you're struggling with."_

"_Are you serious? I have to do a test? At this hour? On a Sunday?"_

"_Next time bring something to work with," he responded, "I'll be back in a few minutes," he said as he left the room._

"_Fine by me," she said towards the door._

_When Cesar returned, he handed her the test, "It's multiple choice, easy enough, right?"_

_Lynn rolled her eyes, took the test from his hand, and pulled out a pen from her back pack to get started. It started off simple, but soon the questions got harder and Lynn began to lose focus. Her eyes wandered towards the door, she would tap her fingers incessantly, and any noise would instantly grab her attention whenever she attempted to focus._

_Cesar looked over at her as she struggled to complete the test. The test is simple enough for students taking the intro to biology class, but she was constantly stopping for some reason or another. Rather than keeping her focused, he observed the stimuli that would distract her._

"_Finished!" she said as she handed the test to him for grading._

_Cesar took the test from her and began to grade it. He began to hear a bouncing sound and turned his eyes towards Lynn, who was too busy tossing the tennis ball between her hands, "Can you please stop that?" _

"_What? You're taking a long time."_

"_I've only graded the front page, it hasn't been a long time," he remarked as he continued to grade her test. _

_She didn't listen and continued to bounce the ball._

_After he finished looking over her test, he handed back her papers, "Well, I've definitely got a lot of work to do," he complained._

"_You've got a lot of work? I'm the one who has to study."_

"_And I'm the one who has to help you study. You understand that, right? Or do I need to use sports analogies?"_

_Lynn glared, "Do you hate jocks or are you always such a ray of freaking sunshine?"_

"_Well we can't all get scholarships for running around playing a game like a child, some of us have to mentally exhaust ourselves to maintain our places here," he flatly told her._

* * *

Francisco stared at his phone. It had been three days since Lynn responded to his texts, and he growing impatient. Normally, he wouldn't mind not hearing back from her, since they rarely interacted on weekends, but it felt strange, especially after she abruptly left practice on Friday without talking to him.

"She's still not answering?" Francisco asked himself out loud.

"Who's not answering?" asked Chuy, as he took a bite of his sandwich.

"A friend."

"A friend that just happens to be a woman?" the older brother teased with a knowing look in his eye.

Francisco glared at Chuy, "No. It's just a friend. I don't need you teasing me about something that isn't there."

Chuy didn't believe him, he knew his younger brother better than that, "You know I'm not Elena, right? I'm not going to be bothered if you started dating again, even if it doesn't go well with her."

"Yeah, right. Ya te conozco, Chuy. You got upset when Caroline and I broke up, why should I expect anything different if I was dating someone else?"

"That's different, and you know it. You two were dating for years and already had a daughter together. Mom and I liked her, so of course it was tough to hear that she called it quits after so many years," he responded. "What were you guys, sophomores when you got together? And you were still together until Elena was about four, so, six years? That's a lot of time to get used to someone being in everyone's life."

Francisco sighed, "Things happen. There's nothing we can do now."

Chuy raised an eyebrow, "So I guess I don't have to ask about–"

Francisco groaned, "Are you really going spend our lunch break lecturing me on something that happened years ago?"

"I don't know, you tell me, is Caroline's reason still valid today?"

Francisco calmly bit his sandwich, "It doesn't matter. Anyway, as I was saying, it's just a friend."

"Sure it is," Chuy said, still not convinced.

His brother's dating life is not normally something that he cares too much about, but it's not like Francisco doesn't get lonely when he's at home by himself, even if the younger brother insists that he's fine. Besides, he just needs someone that can push him out of his comfort zone.

* * *

'_He's an ass!'_

_That's what Lynn would tell herself about the tutor. After only one session, all she could remember was his condescending attitude towards her. She hoped that she wouldn't have to meet with him again, or at least that there was someone else that could take his place as her tutor._

_She arrived at the Science Learning Center, and saw him walk through the front door minutes before four._

"_You! Again?!"_

"_You came at the exact same time as last week; you can't tell me that you're surprised."_

_Lynn looked at the board with active tutoring sessions at the moment, and none of the other tutors were teaching biology except for Cesar._

"_They are other tutors between the week, you're more than welcome to meet them. Also, you don't have to stay, you can walk out right now and come back tomorrow."_

_Lynn almost considered it, but she didn't have a lot of free time between her classes and training regimen. When Cesar noticed that she wasn't moving, he walked towards the study room and she followed after him._

"_So, is there a reason that no one else shows up today?" she asked._

"_Not many students know or care to use the school's tutoring center, some prefer to study on their own, and others would rather use their weekends to relax and do nothing."_

"_I meant for the tutors."_

"_Oh, well like I said, some like to use their weekends to relax and that includes the tutors."_

"_So you just take this shift because no one else wants to come in?"_

"_Pretty much."_

_The two arrived in their tutoring room, and Lynn pulled out her notes and homework. _

"_I'm glad you came prepared this time."_

_She rolled her eyes after hearing his tone, "So, what year are you in?"_

_He was taken aback by the question, "Does that matter?"_

"_I'm curious."_

_He sighed, "I'm a senior. This is my last year–"_

"_And then you plan to go off to work as some scientist in a lab or something?" she finished for him._

_He sighed, "No, I'm an economics major, and I'm –"_

"_Economics? What the heck are you doing teaching biology?"_

"_If you stop interrupting I can tell you, but only after we start our…lesson…" _

_He looked at her notes; nearly every part of the page was filled with black ink and she seemed to have the habit of not staying between the lines or separating her notes to keep them from being a jumbled mess that was easy to misread._

"_Your notes are…very disorganized…"_

"_That's what my sister would say too," she sighed, knowing where the conversation was going._

"_Did she ever tell you to make them organized?"_

_He didn't know why he asked that; of course, she probably told her to do so, but was ignored. She wasn't the first student he's met that got through high school with such mediocre study skills, and she won't be the last, but maybe there was some hope in her._

"_She did, but she stopped bothering to do so after so many times."_

_He handed her back her notes, "In the future, I recommend that you stay in the lines and maybe use different colored pens to keep things interesting."_

_It didn't take much to notice that she got bored easily, so he hoped that different colors might help her when she looked back at her notes._

_She took out some blank sheets of paper, "So considering last time, and your reaction to my test grade, you may want to start from the beginning." _

_He nodded his head, and turned towards the whiteboard. He grabbed some markers and began to draw three types of cells, "So can you tell me what kind of cells these are?"_

_Cesar turned around and saw her focused on a softball. He couldn't believe that he had to stay on top of her as if she was a child, "What are you doing? Put the ball away, and focus."_

"_Hey, you didn't tell me why you teach biology when you're an economics major."_

"_Double major, now can you please put your ball away an answer the question."_

"_Alright, jeez!" she said as she put the ball away._

_Cesar sighed; he wished that more students would arrive at least so he wasn't forced to tutor Lynn one-on-one, but he was almost afraid that she would end up in a worse position if he didn't give her more attention._

"_Alright, so one's a plant cell, that one is an animal cell and the last one is a…" she paused as she tried to remember her answer, "Bacteria!"_

"_Good, now can you tell me the difference between eukaryotes, prokaryotes, and archaea?"_

_She shook her hear immediately; at least she could academically admit defeat._

_Cesar took the eraser and wiped away the cell drawings before creating a table, "Alright, start taking notes."_

_Lynn did as instructed, but her mind began to wander again, "What exactly do you plan on doing with a degree in economics and biology?"_

_He sighed; only a few minutes of focus before she went back to asking questions that didn't matter, "I'll make you a deal, you can ask me questions, but you can't ask unless you answer my questions."_

"_Deal!" Lynn pulled out her textbook, and turned to the chapter explaining cells. She took a marker and began to help him fill out the table. "Does this count as answering your question?"_

_She didn't do it alone, but at least she managed to crack open her book, "I want to work in a hospital, but more on the administrative side, and it looks good when I apply to grad school."_

"_Grad school? You still want to keep going to school?"_

_Cesar erased the board, "Do it yourself without the book, and see how much you remembered on your own."_

"_Alright, but that doesn't count as my question."_

* * *

During practice, Francisco kept an eye out for Lynn. She's been avoiding him since Friday, and she's had more enough time to respond to his communication attempts. He understood not answering immediately, but it's not like she doesn't have time to just send him a quick message saying that she couldn't talk and that she'll get back with him.

On the field, the coach was alone with the kids.

'_Where the heck is she?'_

He looked down at his phone again, and scrolled though the messages.

'_She hasn't read them yet. Maybe she lost her phone?'_

He repeated the last part to himself again, and attempted to relax; figuring that he can't blame her if that's what happened to her.

His heart began to race again, at the thought that maybe something worse may have happened. He doubts that the coach would bother to explain if something happened to her, especially if

'_A car accident? Rock-climbing accident? Laboratory accident? She did say that Lisa still lives in Royal Woods.'_

Rather than make himself go crazy, he got up and tried to stretch to take his mind off of the idea that Lynn was in trouble.

Roy walked up beside him, "Whatcha doin?"

Startled, Francisco twisted his back too much and bit down on his lip in pain, "Just stretching," he said through clenched teeth, before pulling out a pill and breaking it in half to consume.

Roy took a seat next to Francisco, "Dang, you just swallowed that without any water, didntcha?"

"Sometimes I don't have access to water when I need to take my medicine."

"You coulda asked, I would've broughtcha somethin'."

Francisco shook his head, and began to stare out into the field. The kids were running around, the sun was beating down on him, and he began to feel dizzy from the heat.

'_When did it get so hot? How are they handling this heat?'_

He took off his cap and began to fan himself, but it didn't relieve his lightheadedness.

"Are you okay?" asked Roy.

Francisco nodded, an action he quickly came to regret, "I'm fine. Probably just a little hungry."

"Do you want some peanuts? They're honey-roasted, and I don't mind sharin'," Roy offered as he pulled out a bag and poured out a few into his hand before handing the bag to Francisco.

He took the bag of peanuts, and accidentally dropped them, "I'm sorry, the bag slipped out of my hand."

Roy took a deep breath, "It's fine. Accidents happen."

Neither one said anything to the other for the rest of practice. Francisco couldn't tell if Roy was frustrated about the peanuts, but he didn't want to turn around to see.

As the coach called an end to practice, Francisco's alarm went off, and he took his medicine before walking over towards Elena.

"You did good out there," he told her in an attempt to build her confidence.

She knew what he was doing, but she knew the truth; she's not great or good at playing baseball. No matter how often he tries to help her improve, either through doing or watching, it didn't do much in the long run.

Once they were both in the truck, Elena would occasionally glance at her dad from the rearview mirror and see the seriousness in his eyes. Unlike other times, he seemed different, as if something was on his mind. She noticed that he placed a hand on the side of his head as he clenched his teeth while trying to maintain focus on the road.

"Dad, are you okay?"

Francisco glanced up at the mirror and saw her, "Yeah, why?"

She shook her head. She knew that he won't tell her what's on his mind and she settled with waiting for him to open up, if he ever decided to do so.

"I just have a headache, honey. I think I just need to go lie down when I get home."

"Did you take your medicine?"

"Yeah, but it hasn't completely kicked in yet, or maybe I need a stronger one, I don't know…like I said I'm gonna lie down when I get a chance…"

As they pulled into the drive way, Francisco quickly walked to the front door and rang the door bell. Elena caught up to him as her mom opened the door.

"We're here. Practice was great. I have to go," he said as he turned towards his truck before giving either one an opportunity to say a thing.

"Where are you off to in such a rush?" asked Caroline.

Francisco continued walking towards the car, "I have to meet a friend, and I promised to be there right after I dropped off Elena."

The two watched him drive away. Both noticed his strange behavior, but neither one wanted to say anything first.

"He has a headache, why is he going to meet a friend?" Elena asked.

Caroline looked towards the direction that Francisco drove off in, "I'll ask him in a bit. Let's just go inside."

* * *

_Lynn began to stare at the ceiling, as Cesar graded her practice test. Both of them figured that after spending some time learning the material that she would do better on the practice test, but the look on Cesar's face said otherwise._

"_Wow, even with the material still fresh in your mind, you still manage to blow it."_

_Lynn scowled at him, "What the heck?" she grabbed the test from him and looked at her responses. "I guess we know what this means."_

"_That you aren't studying," he responds._

"_No! I am!"_

"_Really? Then you should have been able to answer more questions correctly. I mean, what do you do during the week?"_

_She replayed the whole week in her mind, "Morning run, shower, breakfast, class, gym, lunch train with the softball team, dinner, tv, then bed…oh…but I listen to the professor and there's always Saturday."_

"_I doubt that, considering that your backpack seems be a bottomless pit of sports balls," Cesar commented. Noticing that no one else was going to show up, and the Lynn wasn't leaving, he asked her, "Do you want to take a break?"_

"_Seriously? Why?"_

"_No one else is coming and I can't imagine that your brain isn't frying from all the information that you somehow manage to simultaneously forget, so why not?"_

_She ignored the insult and pulled out a mini football from her backpack, "Do you want to play catch?"_

"_Inside?"_

"_We could go outside," she suggested._

_He shook his head, "I should wait in case that someone else shows up for tutoring."_

_She gestured him to stand at the opposing end of the room and she tossed the ball at him. For a few minutes neither one said anything to the other; the only sound that could be heard is the ball as it whooshes through the air._

"_Have you considered asking to be allowed to use a tape recorder in class? That way you can listen to your lectures frequently while you're exercising, pause it when you lose interest, and pick it back up when you can."_

_Lynn scoffed at the idea, "The professors are a pain. I had one go on and on about how no one was allowed to record him for anything, even gave me crap for taking a picture of his contact information. And he wasn't the only one, almost all of them said that they don't like it when you record their lectures with a camera or voice recorder; they were really clear about that, unless the school says you can, but they aren't going to let me."_

_Cesar is aware of those kinds of professors, he's run into his fair share over the course of his college career, but he was surprised that Lynn would shoot down the idea so quickly._

"_I'll figure it out," Lynn tried to reassure him, "I got this far in school, I'm sure that I can figure out something or at least a way to include more study time."_

"_Maybe go to the gym less often? I mean, do you really need to go every day?"_

_Lynn quickly responded, "Yes! I have a scholarship to maintain."_

"_But considering your perturbing grades…" he suggested._

"_Hey, if you're going to insult me, you're going to have to use smaller words!"_

_He sighed, "If your grades are terrible how do you plan on playing without getting benched? I've seen athletes like you, Lynn. Your whole world is a locker and a field, and nothing else matters, does it? Classes are placed on a backburner, because they aren't interesting enough, but just remember that at the end of the day, once college is over, there's a small chance that you'll make it big in sports, but don't blow the academic opportunity you were give because of it."_

_She held onto the ball and looked down at the ground. She hated getting this lecture over and over again from everyone. She understood that everyone wanted her to reach her academic potential, but it doesn't come as naturally for her as sports does. She remembers spending countless hours trying to crack a book open and not get bored, but unless someone is watching her as she does it, her mind wanders off._

_Then there was the other problem._

"_That's easy for you to say, no one looks at you and your family and just thinks that you're the hyperactive sports girl among a group of eleven kids."_

_The number of siblings surprised him, but rather than bring it up, he attempted to comfort her "Well, I'm sure there's more to you than just the hyperactive sports girl."_

* * *

Francisco knocked on the door of her apartment. He knew that this is rather desperate, but after so much time without a response, he wanted to make sure that nothing had happened to her. He knocked on the door again before pressing his ear on her door; he couldn't hear a sound. Deciding that at some point she would return home, he waited for her to arrive.

As Lynn got out of her car, she heard her phone ringing in her pocket again – it was Francisco. "Seriously? Take a hint. I don't feel like talking to you right now."

He's never been that insistent on getting in contact with her, so this was new to her, but it was starting to get annoying. First, he called after practice, more than likely wondering why she left as quickly as she did. Then, there were the next few days, when he would leave texts asking where she was or if she was okay, and finally, the phone calls that he would make every couple of hours.

She walked towards her apartment, and her phone rang again. She ignored it, and continued walking on her way, but stopped when she saw Francisco at her front door. The phone continued to sound. He hung up on his end and looked at her.

"Seriously, Lynn? What the heck!? Why are you ignoring my calls?"

"Cause I don't feel like talking to you at the moment," she said as she walked past him and tried to get inside of her apartment.

Francisco looked at her, completely dumbfounded, "What do you mean you don't want to talk? What's going on with you? You've been avoiding me for days without letting me know why and–"

"Nothing. I'll talk to you when I'm ready," she said as she closed the door on him.

He held onto the door, "Look Lynn, I don't know what's going on, but I sort of expect my girlfriend to answer my texts."

'_Expect my girlfriend to answer my texts…'_

The phrase rattled around in Lynn's head and she glared at him. Noticing the anger in her eyes, he let go of the door, "Fine, I'll be here when you're ready to talk."

As she closed the door, her fists trembled in anger, she bit down on her bottom lip and her heart and her head were pounding. She let out a small scream to release some tension; she took a deep breath and walked away from the door.

She stopped in the hallway and punched the wall as hard as she could, "Dang it!"

* * *

_Four hours, Cesar was surprised that she stayed for the entire four hours this time, but at least she was more willing to listen to his lessons after exchanging his own information with her; he was almost curious about why she wanted to know._

"_Would you like me to call campus security to escort you to your dorm?" he asked after noticing the dark nighttime sky._

_Lynn scoffed, "No. I can handle myself just fine."_

_The two walked out the door, and walked in the same direction. Both were surprised by that neither one was going in any other direction._

"_You don't need to follow me, I'll be fine."_

"_I'm not following you; I live in the South Quadrangle."_

"_Oh, I guess we are gonna be walking together, neighbor."_

_Both walked in silence. After spending so much time in the tutoring room, he figured that she was bound to get tired of asking him questions, so he figured, that this may be his chance to get even with her._

_He spoke up, "Are you from Michigan?"_

_She was surprised by the sudden question, "Uh yeah, I live like an hour away, near Detroit."_

_He nodded, "I'm from New York."_

"_The city or the state? Doesn't matter, so why'd you come to school here? I mean I get that there's always some out of town students, but you seem like one of those people that would want to go to a fancy private school."_

"_I got a full-ride, so I took it. The school could have been in Alaska or Hawaii or anywhere in the world, so long as I didn't have to worry my family about the cost. By the way, city."_

"_That's nice of you. I figure you already know that I got a softball scholarship, although being close to the action of one of favorite college football teams is a nice little incentive."_

_He scoffed, "Seriously? You get a full-ride to one of top public universities in the country, and the best thing about it is being close to the action?"_

_This is what he hates about undergrad, it's also what he hated about high school, people are too busy partying and goofing off instead of working hard towards bettering themselves._

"_Are you serious? Have you never gone to a game, a party, or you know, done anything to enjoy the college experience?"_

_He didn't bother to answer. To him the college experience was just being able to get away from the chaos of home and relax in comparison to his stressful family._

"_Oh, I am so making you have fun before you graduate. Consider me your tutor. Now give me your number so I can call you when I've got it all planned out" she said happily._

"_I'm not considering you a tutor, so good luck with that."_

_Lynn took that good luck as a challenge and quickly reached into his pockets to take his phone. _

_Cesar pulled away from her before she could retrieve the phone, "What the heck are you doing!?"_

"_Trying to get your phone, you said 'good luck with that'."_

"_I meant good luck getting me to go out and do those sorts of activities, not good luck getting my phone from my pocket. Geez, do you have any concept of boundaries?"_

"_Grow up with nine other sisters, trust me, there's no such thing as boundaries."_

_Cesar pulled out his phone, "Fine, you can have my number, but don't call or message me unless it's for school–"_

"_And the fun day?" she asked with a hopeful smile._

_He sighed, "Fine. But only once, I usually have more pressing issues than sitting around in the cold watching armor clad behemoths tackle each other for entertainment."_

* * *

Elena sat at the kitchen table eating breakfast with her dad. She recalled that he hasn't shown up for her practice for some time, and has wanted to ask him about it. Nearly all last season and some parts of this season, he came to practice without fail, and now all of a sudden, it was her mother who came to pick her up. At first she thought that maybe he was stuck in traffic or had a temporary change in hours at work, but when he didn't show up for two weeks, she knew that that things were back to how they used to be – her only seeing him on weekends.

"Umm dad?" she asked nervously, sensing tension from him.

He looked up from the newspaper, "Yes," he asked.

The look in his eyes bothered her a bit, he had the same look from the last time he was at her practice, "Can we go to the art museum today?" She asked, backing out from asking her original question.

"Sure, we can go this afternoon. I promised Jackson that I'd keep an eye out for a package that he's expecting today."

Elena nodded and continued with her breakfast. She didn't know what he's had on his mind, but she's noticed that he is more distant than usual. At the moment, she assumed that it had something to do with having to work extra hours.

"Hey, Elena, I'm sorry that I haven't been to your practices lately," he said, as if he knew what she was upset about. "I've been busier than usual and time keeps getting away from me, even with his old watch," he said in an effort to comfort her.

He didn't like lying to her like that, but it was better than telling her that Lynn was the reason that he was avoiding practice. The glare that she shot him and the tone of her voice when he confronted her at her apartment made it more than clear that he should avoid her until she was ready to talk.

"What's been going on at work? Did they lay off more people? Was it the man that you switched shifts with? Wait…are you going to work late because your alarm on your watch isn't working?"

Francisco continued to let Elena ask more questions as he finished his meager breakfast, before he shook his head to get her attention.

"No, no, nothing like that. Management changed, and do you remember what I've told you about what happens with management changes?"

"They try to change things that are fine," she answered, the way he's taught her before.

He nodded his head, "Things will be back to normal before you know it," he tried to assure her, "and then I can be there for you after school."

They both smiled at each other, in an effort to comfort the other, but neither one was sure that it was working.

* * *

_**Meet me in front of the Union after class**_

_That's what her message said when he read it that Thursday morning. He was surprised that she didn't bother to include a time, especially considering how impatient she is, but he messaged her to let her know when he would arrive._

"_If not I can imagine that she'll keep messaging me over and over again," he told himself._

_As soon as he was done with class for the day, Cesar walked towards the front steps of the building and saw her sitting eating a sandwich looking at all the students that passed her by._

"_Hey! You made it," she said excitedly as she ran over to him. "Did you think of what you wanted to do?"_

_He didn't. Even after nearly four years, there wasn't much that he wanted to do at the university that other people would consider to be part of the college experience. _

_When Lynn noticed that he wasn't opening his mouth, she offered some suggestion, "We could go to a party?"_

_Cesar struck down the idea._

"_We could go to Good Time Charley's."_

"_You aren't twenty-one."_

"_You could drink and I'll just wait outside."_

_He struck down the idea again._

"_We could break into the football stadium and run…the entire…length…of the field…" as she said it, she knew that he wouldn't be on board._

"_Lynn, I'm not exactly a party animal. I don't enjoy the crowds or loud noises, I like silence."_

"_So the library," Lynn joked._

"_Never mind, this is a waste of time. I'm just going to the library and then I'm going to call it a night."_

_She grabbed his arm, "Aww c'mon! You must have a list of things you want to do. When are you going to be able to do them, if all you ever do is bury yourself in the library?"_

"_Alright, give me a minute to think of something…I'd like a photo of my favorite professors…eat something I've never eaten before…write something in the school paper…go to the museum…maybe –"_

"_Seriously? That's what you want to do? How about something that you can do tonight?"_

"_Well, there are some more things, if you're willing to let me finish."_

_She groaned, "Fine, but can we do while we go get you eat somewhere that you've never eaten at? I'm hungry."_

"_You just ate."_

_Her grumbling stomach didn't care as they both walked into the Union._

* * *

**Meet me at the gym after work**

That's all the text said, he tried to message her back, but she didn't respond, however Francisco was relieved that she finally wanted to talk with him. Two weeks isn't much, especially when compared to the years when they didn't even speak to each other, but it was a long time. He missed talking with her, spending time with her, he even missed those stupid punches she would give him whenever the mood struck her.

He pulled into the parking lot and found her jalopy and parked nearby. He walked past the car and wondered why she would hold on to such an old vehicle, _'Must run in the family to never get rid of junkers,'_ he thought, recalling the Loud family vehicle.

Francisco looked around for Lynn, and found her running on the treadmill. He approached her, "Hey Lynnsanity."

She looked over at him and stopped the machine. Lynn wiped the sweat from her brow, "Meet me by the punching bags," she said before walking away.

"Nice to see you too," he said out loud to himself as he followed behind her.

She was still aloof and he couldn't figure out why; he assumed that after a few weeks, that she would have more to say, but all he could do was wait for her, since he wasn't even sure what started this.

As Lynn approached him, she led him to a punching bag, "Can you hold it for me?"

He held onto the punching bag, and as she concentrated on her technique. Lynn punched and Francisco could feel the tension coming from her through her punches, "Lynn, are you okay? Your punches seem angrier than normal."

"No, I'm not okay. Here I am thinking that you were about to tell Elena about us and then I hear that you haven't even told her that you want to date."

Francisco stood there, completely stunned. How did she know about that? Was that why she was upset? He took a deep breath, and stepped out from around the punching bag "Look, Lynn, I–" he was cut off by a punch to the jaw.

Lynn looked at him, stunned at what just happened. It wasn't her intention to him, just to get his attention by punching near him, but the scowl on his face told her that he wasn't taking it that way.

"Really Lynn?" he said in a low voice.

"Oh calm down, I didn't do it on purpose."

He pushed the punching bag towards her and she pushed it back to him. The two silently went back and forth, getting angrier and angrier. Neither one was giving in until Lynn decided, "Just meet me in the ring."

Both bolted towards the boxing ring, Francisco donned a pair of boxing gloves and looked at her, "Is that really what you were mad about, because I haven't told her about my love life?"

"Yeah, I am," she said as she approached him. "I thought that maybe we wouldn't have to hide as much, but you couldn't even tell her?"

Francisco threw the first punch, she dodged it and struck back, "Maybe I'm not ready to tell her, did you think of that?"

"Not ready? We've been going out for months, that's more than enough time to at least say that you are dating someone."

Lynn went on the offense, and Francisco held her off, but her punches were getting stronger with each sentence.

"It's a bigger deal. She already knows you and has some sort of relationship to you, what happens if we break up?"

Lynn stopped at looked at him, "Break up?"

"It can happen."

She punched him again, "You still picture worst case scenarios? Why can't you just be happy with what you've got and take a damn chance?"

"Because we aren't all like you, Lynn. We can't all just go with the flow and be fine regardless of what happens. There are consequences in life."

"Yeah, I know what consequences are, but that doesn't mean that you have to live your life in a shell, afraid of even telling your daughter something so simple."

"So simple? So your life is an open book? Everyone that's important to you knows everything about you?"

Lynn stopped her punches after hearing that.

"I thought so. You haven't told anyone either, so don't lecture me about this."

"You told me not to! Don't act all high and mighty just because I decided to listen to you, and keep this between us," she said, as he noticed the rapid shifting of her eyes.

"Don't lie. You wanted to tell someone," Francisco said, waiting for Lynn's next barrage of hits.

"I wanted to…but it doesn't matter anymore…" she said. "It's better than waiting for them to tell you first that they knew, better than…" Rather than finish, Lynn began punching him again without holding back.

"It's not that big of a deal. Why are you so bothered by this?" he asked as held off her attacks. Her constant punches were driving him mad, and he began to go on the offense, "Did you get in your own head? Did you convince yourself that you're making a mistake?"

She didn't say anything anymore; she just kept punching at her frustrations.

* * *

_Lynn pressed her head against the desk, she could not believe that this was on his list of things to do. _

_She turned to him and whispered, "Why the heck do you want to do this? I mean who wants to sit in on a random class that they aren't enrolled in?"_

_He shushed her, and went back to paying attention to the professor. Lynn couldn't take it, the whole point of Thursdays was to relax after attending classes all week, not search for a new one that had nothing to do with your major. _

_Rather than wait around, Lynn turned to him, "I'm gonna be outside," she said before leaving him behind in the class._

_When class let out, Lynn looked as the students poured out of the auditorium and found Cesar, "Finally! Now let's actually do something fun," she said as they walked outside._

"_Just because you don't enjoy school, doesn't mean that I don't."_

_She groaned, "Fine! So what do you want to do now? The night is young and I'm just raring to go!"_

_Cesar shrugged his shoulders; he didn't have much in mind, "Alright, there's two things left on my list that we can do tonight, but I'm not sure how willing–"_

"_Great! Let's go!" she said as she pulled him in a random direction._

"_Lynn, the library is this way," he said pointing in the other direction._

_She groaned at the thought of going to the library as part of the night of adventures, but she went along with it._

"_So what are we doing?"_

"_I need to print out something, we can hang around until it's close to midnight and then I want to go to the bell tower."_

_Lynn wasn't sure what he had up his sleeve, but she went along with it. After a stop at the library to print out a copy of The Victors March, Cesar and Lynn waited around the lounge until it was time to go to the bell tower. The two reached the front of the bell tower and looked up, Lynn still isn't sure what he has up sleeve._

"_I'm curious, what are you up to?"_

"_You said that you wanted to do something fun, so I figured that this is right up your alley."_

_She looked at the doorknob, "Are we going to sing from the door?"_

_He shook his head, "No, I was hoping you could help me get inside so I can play this."_

_The request surprised her; all night, he's been suggesting dull activities and out of nowhere he suddenly wants to break and enter into the bell tower just to play the school's fight song._

"_Can you help me? I'm hoping that we can do this at the stroke of midnight."_

_She took a deep breath. This isn't how she envisioned their night ending, and at worst they may get kicked out of school, but it is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity and she wants to take it. _

"_I think I have something in my backpack to open the–"_

_Lynn kicked down the door and ran inside, "Hurry up before someone sees us!"_

_Cesar grabbed his things and chased after her as they ran to the top of the tower. Upon reaching the top of the tower, he was out of breath, _"_I forgot…how high…this tower is…"_

_Lynn checked the time on her phone, "Alright, you've got a few minutes until midnight."_

_Cesar placed the sheet music on the music stand and took a deep breath, "This is going to sound terrible, since I haven't done this since I was a freshman, but I've really wanted to bring this tradition back."_

"_What tradition?"_

"_The bells used to sound at midnight, but when the clock system was replaced with a computer, it never rang at twelve, so I figured, if I'm going to do something stupid, I at least want it to be memorable."_

_Lynn smiled, "So you can play this thing?"_

"_Sort of, the last time I took this class was almost three years ago, so sorry to everyone who has to hear this."_

_She checked the clock one more time and soon as it struck midnight, he began to play. He was right, he is definitely not great at playing the instrument, but at least she could make out the tune well enough to begin to sing along to his playing. Neither one was the stuff of legends, but they can't say that they didn't have fun._

_As he finished playing, he turned to her, "Thanks…for today. It was nice to make a…fun memory."_

"_You say that like it's a bad thing."_

_He shrugged his shoulders before grabbing his things. He stopped as he took in the sight of the dark campus with the few lamps lighting that pathways; he didn't think that he would be doing such a thing, but he was glad that Lynn pushed him enough out of his comfort zone to try._

"_So what was the last thing on your list?" she asked._

_He shook his head, "It's not important, besides it can wait for another day."_

* * *

The two sat in the back of Francisco's truck; him attempting to stop his nosebleed and her covering her black eye with an icepack. Neither one said anything as they sat looking at the cars and gym patrons pass them by.

"I'm sorry about your eye," Francisco started. "I didn't think that we would get that crazy," he said as he tried lightening the mood.

Lynn stayed quiet. She didn't know what just came over them, one minute she planned on just venting her frustrations through words and hits to the punching bag and the next minute they were fighting in the ring criticizing each other. Like the black eye she was trying to soothe, his words stung; he was too afraid to tell Elena that he was in a relationship, he feared them breaking up, and then he pointed out her hypocrisy when she couldn't tell anyone about their relationship either.

She finally spoke up, "Can I ask you something?"

"Sure."

"What exactly do you want out of this relationship? Something casual? A chance to see what could have been? Something long-term? Is there even a difference between us, if we still act like friends? I know you said that there is a difference, but…it doesn't always feel that way…"

Francisco tried to gather his thoughts as best as he could. He opened his mouth, "I don't know…but I…I think there's a difference between us. I can tell that you're still kind of affectionate with me, but we…" He struggled to think of what to say.

She had a point, they were the same. Their 'dates' still consisted of them at one or the other's home, eating and watching a game; with occasional moments of acknowledgement during the commercials.

"But we…what?" she tried to continue. "See, that's the problem. Do you think that maybe we can't see each other past being friends?"

"I think that we can, but I don't necessarily know how far I wanted this to go. I thought that this was my chance to be in a romantic relationship with you, and next thing I know, we're together and old habits come back up again."

Lynn nodded her head; he was right, old habits popped up here and there. She sighed, and thought to herself, _'I guess, it was a bad idea to start this so soon…'_

Lynn got up from the truck bed and faced him, "When we both figure out what we want, then maybe we can try this again." She walked back to her car, and left him with his thoughts.


	8. Children and Graduations

Francisco took a seat in the auditorium of Elena's elementary school. Honestly, he thought of a graduation ceremony from one grade to another was silly. He understood high school and college graduations, but moving from third to fourth grade was hardly worth the ceremony. Still, he wasn't going to stomp on his daughter's day and he wanted to be there for her, especially since they haven't seen each other as often as they could.

Caroline walked into the auditorium; she spotted Francisco and took a seat next to him. The two exchanges pleasantries, and sat quietly. Neither one knew what to talk about, aside from the usual conversations they had when Elena was around, both of them were often quiet when left alone.

"I know you think these things are silly, but it was nice that you were able to take some time off for this. It really means a lot to Elena," Caroline started.

"Of course, I try, especially for the bigger things."

Back to silence.

The ceremony was set to start in half an hour and the silence was uncomfortable. All around them, parents were chatting, while they stayed quiet.

"Did she tell you what she wanted to do after the ceremony?"

He shook his head, "No," he said before he gave a slight chuckle. "But I can only imagine how many ideas are floating around in her head."

She nodded. Both of them knew how indecisive their daughter could be, so they know that it's easier to have as few options for her to choose from as possible.

"I figure a nice place to go would be either the zoo, the park, or a museum as the day trip. Although we'll have to do something about lunch," she suggested.

"I'll think of something before we go," said Francisco. "So how's the, uh, work going?" he asked in hopes of making things more comfortable.

"Great. Work's been going well. My firm is working on a case against a pharmaceutical company."

Francisco nodded, "That's good. And your family?"

"They're doing okay," she kept it short, she knew that he wasn't really interested in them; not that she could blame him. In the past, they made is clear that they weren't fond of him, and despite both of their best efforts to get him in good graces, they never saw him past being a lower-class bum.

"Are you doing okay?" she asked with sincerity in her voice.

He nodded, but his eyes subtly told her that he wasn't. She wasn't sure if it was work or family or something else that was stressing him out at the moment, but despite not being together for years, she could still read him, however it was becoming more and more difficult as time passed.

"How about your back? Has it been holding up okay?"

When she met Francisco, she noticed that he had difficulties with his back. He mentioned at some point how that came to be, but it became worse as he continued to play baseball in college. Once he was forced to quit baseball, his back somewhat improved, but he got worse when he got injured again on the job.

"It's fine," he said before nervously swallowing.

She wanted to shake her head, but she turned to her head to look at the decorated stage; finding it easier to not bring up anything when this day is supposed to be about their daughter.

* * *

_Lynn played with the tassel on her graduation cap. The ceremony was set to start at ten, but the graduates were instructed to arrive two hours early to ensure that no one was late and so that they could all be ready when the ceremony started._

_She was bored. The teachers instructed them to stay in line alphabetically which unfortunately meant that she wasn't near her friends; Francisco is near the front of the line and Margo was with the other group, far from her's._

_Lynn caught a glimpse of her friend and began to walk in his direction._

"_Loud, get back in line," a teacher quickly told Lynn._

_She stopped and immediately turned back to her spot in line. Lynn played with the tassel again, everyone around her looked anxious, and despite seeming like a playful cat; she was anxious too. This is probably going to be the last time that she'll see her teachers, the last time she'll be surrounded by the students around her, and the last time that she'll see her friends on a near-daily basis._

_One of the teachers began to talk, but Lynn's mind began to wander almost instantly._

_At the beginning of the school year, she was excited to finish high school, but now, in this long line filled with her classmates, she was nervous. Soon, she would be heading off to college, moving into a dorm, playing with a group of teammates that she barely knows, and studying stuff that is probably tougher than what she is used to, but worst of all, she was going to be away from her loved ones. Summer hasn't even started and she's already missing those around her; no more afternoons in the park, no more running around town having fun, no more seeing her friends and family members every day._

_She shook her head. She didn't know why she was jumping ahead so far, summer is just about to start and she'll have three months before she has to head off to school._

"_Here you go," the teacher said, as she handed Lynn a graduation cap topper with her future school's seal. _

"_What's this for?"_

"_You put it on your cap so that the audience can see what university you are going to attend in the fall," explained the woman. "Pay attention next time, Loud."_

_Lynn gave her a cheesy smile, before she walked away to continue handing out more graduation cap toppers. Lynn took off her cap placed the topper on it. She stared down at the blue and maize seal, before placing the cap back on her head._

"_Do you know what veritas means?"_

_Lynn jumped up and saw Francisco, who was looking at her topper, "No, I didn't take Latin, remember? But at least I understand art and science."_

"_Are you sure that scientia means science?"_

_She shrugged her shoulders before pulling the cap off of his head and asked, "So why does your seal have an eagle? I thought you were going to be playing for the Broncos out in California?"_

_He shrugged his shoulders, "I don't know. I didn't design the seal, besides it's not like the mascot of your school is on your seal," he pressed down on Lynn's head and rubbed her cap, "Oh magic genie lamp, grant me three wishes."_

_She punched him in the stomach, "That's what you get for messing up my hair."_

_Francisco held onto the spot that she punched, "Great, now my back and gut match."_

"_Mr. De Los Reyes, is this your spot?" asked the teacher, who returned after noticing him. He shook his head, before the teacher pointed him back to the front of the line, "Go to your spot."_

_He took his cap from Lynn and "See you after the ceremony."_

* * *

"So have you thought about where you wanted to go?" Francisco asked Elena, as the three walked to his truck.

After being told her options from her mother, Elena happily asked, "Can we go to the museum? The art museum, or maybe the science museum, no, maybe the history museum, and then can we get ice cream? Auntie Pam's, no, Mary Scooper's, maybe–"

Caroline interrupted her daughter, "How about we go get something to eat first, then you can decide where we go today. Sound like a plan?" She turned to Francisco, "What were those restaurants that you heard about?"

Francisco opened his mouth, and realized that he didn't put much thought into where they were going to eat. He saw Caroline, who was signaling him to think of two options to present, "There's uh…nice little bistro near here or maybe

Elena began weighing both options in her head, while failing to notice her parents quietly sigh after hearing her struggle on where to decide.

Caroline held back a laugh, and Francisco smiled; without fail, Elena always struggled to make decisions like these. Sometimes, he wished that she would be more decisive, but he knows that she likes to weigh all of her options and make sure that everyone is happy instead of just her.

"Can we go to the bistro?"

He nodded; relieved that she finally decided on a place before they traveled too far. Francisco parked the truck and walked into the little bistro, which he had a faint idea about. He knew that it popped up whenever he looked up a new restaurant, but he never made an effort to eat at the establishment; hopefully, it wouldn't disappoint.

The three took a seat. Unlike in the auditorium, conversation was much simpler with Elena around. She easily took the spotlight off of her dad, and he was thankful for it; especially since he wasn't too eager to answer every sympathetic question that Caroline may have had.

For dessert, Caroline was able to convince Elena to share a sundae at the bistro, rather than travel to an ice cream parlor, which would involve another lengthy time period from the girl.

The waitress brought out a large sundae, "Here's a treat for the happy family."

Francisco and Caroline began to stammer, and she started, "No…we're…yes, but not like that, we're together today, but for our daughter…I'm dating, but not him."

The waitress nervously nodded and walked away from the table.

Francisco looked over at Caroline, and "Dating? Why

"So have you decided what museum you wanted to see today?"

She looked over at her parents as she took a bite of her ice cream sundae, "I haven't decided between the art and history museum."

* * *

_Lincoln typed away on his laptop. He was readying his attack plan for the upcoming video game tournament, but the noises from outside his room interrupted him. All morning, his sisters would constantly enter the bathroom, and it made it difficult to concentrate. It almost made him miss his old room…almost; he enjoyed the larger room that Leni gave him when she moved out._

"_Lincoln! Are you almost ready? We have to leave in a few minutes!" Rita called out to her son._

_The boy looked towards the door, trying to figure out what she meant, until he remembered that he was supposed to be getting ready to go to Lynn's graduation._

"_I just need to brush my hair," he told his mom._

_The boy jumped up from his bed and quickly got dressed before running into the bathroom to comb his hair. He quickly ran back into his room to get his phone before meeting his family downstairs._

_Everyone looked at him as he descended the stairs, "What?" he asked._

"_Took you long enough, Lincoln," Lola said, as she closed her compact mirror._

"_It wasn't that long, and you're still doing your makeup."_

"_Touching up," she corrected, "A lady should always look her best, even when she isn't the center of attention."_

_Rita began to count everyone, "Okay! That's everyone, Let's go!"_

_The family walked towards the car_

"_Wait! I forgot lock the backdoor," exclaimed Rita, before running into the house. As she walked towards the car, the Loud matriarch held Lily in hand. _

"_Again," Lana said without much thought as Lily took a seat next to her._

_Lily looked at Lana and asked, "What again?"_

_Everyone began to mutter excuses as they averted their eyes from her. _

_Lynn Sr. looked up at the rearview mirror, and asked, "Lily, what were you doing? We almost left without you."_

"_I was in the backyard making sure that Charles finished burying his bone before we left."_

_His heart warmed at hearing such an innocent answer; these were the moments that he had to remember as she grew up._

_As they made their way to pick up Albert and Myrtle, Lincoln pulled out his phone to type his strategy on his phone. Soon, the sounds of his family began to fade away as he played out his strategy in his head. For weeks, he has been working on this and nearly every possible outcome has passed through his brain and he was sure that he and his team were going to win._

"_Elder brother, should I worry that you are becoming like our eldest sister and beginning and addiction to your mobile device?"_

_Lincoln turned to Lisa, "I don't have a problem. I'm just trying to get down my plans for my game and I don't want to forget them. See!" he showed his phone to the unimpressed scientist. "Besides, I can put down my phone just like that," he said as he put his phone away to focus on his family. _

_The sound of the phone falling from his pocket alerted both siblings. Lincoln tried to reach for it, but he isn't able to fit his hand, but his could feel the phone with the tips of his fingers. _

"_C'mon…I almost got it," the phone stayed put, and Lincoln admitted a temporary defeat._

"_Just don't forget to retrieve it."_

"_I won't."_

* * *

Lily got on the step stool and taped the old 'Con-Grad-ulations!' banner on the doorway. For sixteen years, the banner has been hung and taken down for each and every sibling's party and this was probably the last time that that it would be put up, unless happy grandparents insist on hosting their grandchildren's graduation parties.

Lynn Sr. walked through the door with bags of groceries in hand, "Alright, got the burgers, the hot dogs, the ice cream, the drinks, condiments, buns, napkins, am I forgetting anything, Lily? I feel like I'm forgetting something," the Loud patriarch asked his youngest daughter, as he walked past her. The moment she came down from the step stool, he pulled her into a tight hug; dropping the groceries on the ground.

"I can't breathe, dad…and you dropped everything on the ground."

Lynn Sr. started taking deep breaths loosened the hug, before he teared up, "I'm just so proud of my little girl. My last little Loud talking across that stage to get her diploma. I'm not ready!" He wailed.

Lily returned the hug. After ten other graduations, she assumed that he would have been cried out, but he still had plenty of tears to shed for her own graduation.

Rita walked in with a pen and paper pad in hand, as she muttered to herself a list of possible rooming arrangements for the guests, "Probably put the kids in Luna and Luan's room, then Lola and Lana could sleep in their old room," Rita groaned there just wasn't enough room for everyone. Between her children, their spouses, and her grandchildren; it was just too many people.

"Hey mom, still haven't figured out where to put everyone up?" Lily asked as she tried to free herself from her father's hug.

Rita shook her head, "Unless, we can get four people in a room, we won't have beds or space for everyone."

"Might I offer a suggestion, mother." Lisa walked into the room; a chalkboard in tow. She pointed to the somewhat crudely drawn figures of her two older sisters that resided in Royal Woods, "I recommend taking advantage of having two daughters with their own habitations; Lucy and Lynn could both probably take some guests in, and relieve the pressure that our eighteen visiting family members would bring upon our home."

Rita nodded in agreement, surely they wouldn't mind taking in a small group.

"I don't have much room, but I'm sure Lana and Lola or Lincoln and Ronnie Anne wouldn't mind staying with us," Lucy stated, as she startled her sisters and parents from behind.

Rita clutched her chest, "Thank you, Lucy. Now we just need to ask Lynn."

The sound of boxes falling in attic, had them look up at the ceiling, where Lynn was likely cursing while ransacking the attic for the sleeping bags and a crib for their nieces and nephews.

"LJ! Can you come down? We need to ask you something," the Loud patriarch yelled.

Lynn came downstairs, playing with a paddleball, "I'm almost done searching through all the boxes, I even found some pretty neat stuff I forgot about."

"Anyway, it turns out that we don't have enough room for everyone, so we were hoping that you could take in some people?" Rita asked.

Lynn looked at the chalkboard, "Are you sure? Cause my apartment only has one room, where would I put a guest?"

"We would assume that you could probably take Luna or one of the twins, since they are the only ones traveling without any additional guests," Lisa stated.

"So where are they supposed to sleep? On the couch? 'Sorry, you traveled all this way from Chicago or Ann Arbor or Indianapolis. Do you mind sleeping on the floor or the couch? Thanks.' Are you sure that they wouldn't be more comfortable at a hotel or something?" asked Lynn.

"A good host would probably give their bed to the guest, as well find a way to accommodate their sibling rather than having said sibling spend money at a hotel," Lisa responded.

Lynn gave in, "Fine, I guess we can figure it out somehow. So can I borrow some extra sheets or something?"

* * *

_Even after four consecutive graduation ceremonies, the Louds still struggle with leaving early enough to beat the traffic surrounding the high school. Car after car lined up trying to get in the parking lot via one entrance, and it didn't help that the spaces kept getting filled up forcing drivers to travel further to find a spot. _

_Lynn Sr. happily exclaimed, as he stretched after getting out of the vehicle, "Phew, we made it, and with thirty minutes to spare!"_

"_Good thing," Albert said, "Race you to the entrance, Lynn?" he asked as lightly elbowed the other man's ribs._

_Lynn Sr. looked at the distance that they would have to cover, and shook his head, "I don't think that I ca–I mean, I don't think that we should, you know, sweat stains, and whatnot."_

_Albert laughed, "How about speed walking, then?" he asked as he tried to walk through the parking lot as fast as he could._

_Rita kept pace with her father, "Dad, slow down. You don't want to replace your hip again."_

_The parking lot continued to get filled with more vehicles as more families arrived. The younger Louds chased after their grandfather, who was leaving them in his dust._

"_Hurry up, everyone! We need to get a good view and enough seats!" Lynn Sr. said with determination, despite his slowing steps._

_The family snagged a spot with enough seats for everyone and they began to take out their phones and cameras to document the ceremony. _

"_Dang it…" Lincoln mutters to himself before remembering that he left his phone in Vanzilla._

_He gets up from his seat, before Lynn Sr. asks, "Where are you going, son?"_

"_I left my phone in the car, I'm just gonna go get it before they start."_

_The elder Loud looked at his watch, "Okay, but hurry back. You don't want to be late."_

_Lincoln nodded and quickly ran outside, where a heavily pregnant woman leaning on a car in pain caught his attention._

"_Ms. DiMartino, are you okay?"_

_She smiled, "Lincoln, how many times do I have to tell you to call me Mrs. Ramirez."_

_He nervously laughed, "Yeah, I guess I forgot."_

_It was a tough habit for him to break, especially when his math teacher changed her name in the middle of the school year._

_Lincoln walked over to her, and noticed that her water broke. His heart began to race; his teacher is in labor. _

"_I need to get to the hospital, I think the baby is coming," she said through her teeth._

"_Do you want me to call for an ambulance?"_

_She shook her head, and handed him her phone, "Call my husband…let him know…he can drive me…the hospital is only…a few miles away…"_

_Lincoln took the phone from her and dialed, "He's not picking up. Are you sure that you don't want me to call you an ambulance?"_

_He looked at the exit and figured that an ambulance would be a better idea than waiting around, so he made the call._

_Lincoln stayed put next to the woman in labor and waited for the sounds of sirens. He continued to try to call her husband, but it just kept going to voicemail. The paramedics drove past the crowd and quickly pulled up next to her, and Lincoln was finally able to get a hold of her husband._

"_Hello? Mr. Ramirez, your wife is in labor…oh, and this is Lincoln Loud, wait, I don't think that you're too worried about that," he shook his head, "Sorry, we're at the high school parking lot, some paramedics are helping her right now," he notified the soon-to-be father._

_The paramedics put her on the gurney and helped her into the ambulance, Lincoln walked next to her, as he described the events to the man on the phone. _

"_They're checking her heart rate…one of the paramedics is staying next to her…the other is stepping out quickly…he closed the door…"_

_Lincoln looked at the door, and began to realize what was happening, "Wait! I can't go!" he said as he tried to open the door from the inside, but the ambulance began to move, and Lincoln accepted his fate._

_Inside the auditorium, Lori saw the clock on her phone and noticed that her younger brother hadn't returned despite being gone for so long._

"_Where is Lincoln?" asked Lori, as she looked around for her brother, "The graduation is about to start."_

_The rest of the family members looked around and Lisa pulled out her tracking device and noticed that she couldn't find Lincoln's signal nearby._

"_Uh, family, Lincoln's tracking chip isn't in the vicinity of the high school."_

_The family looked at the screen, and counted fourteen blinking green dots, but they couldn't find the thirteenth. Lisa zoomed out to see if she could find her brother's signal, but she couldn't find him within her tracking device's range._

"_Where could he have gone?" asked Lynn Sr._

"_What do we do? The ceremony is starting," asked Rita._

_Lynn Sr. looked at his watch, "We've got two minutes, surely we can find him if we split up. We'll just have to miss the principal and valedictorian's speeches, but we should be back before Lynn Jr. gets her diploma."_

"_Father, may I suggest an easier plan," Lisa said, before tapping away on her phone, "I've released a drone to search the vicinity of Lincoln's mobile device. I can receive video footage _

"_That's easier?" asked Luna._

"_Easier than all of us leaving at once and risking expulsion from the grounds before watching our fifth sister receive her ceremonial document of basic academic completion."_

_The principal began to speak, and the Louds looked at Lisa's screen as the drone searched the parking lot. _

"_Right there," pointed Lana._

"_That's an old man," corrected Lola._

* * *

_Lisa continued to pilot the drone, but couldn't find her brother in the parking lot. She took a deep breath and continued her search through all of the cars and the neighborhood houses surrounding the school._

Lynn took a seat on the couch and crossed her arms as she muttered the sleeping arrangement to herself, "I guess I can sleep on the couch, it is only until Sunday, what's a few nights anyway?"

She isn't looking forward to sharing her apartment with her older sister, but everyone kept putting her on the spot to do so. For years, she has had to share her living space, and now that she finally gets one to herself, she has to share it.

'_Why are you complaining like little child? __È__ sole un fine settimana!'_

Lynn sighed, even and figured that there was no point in complaining, it is a weekend after all, _'I even snuck in some Italian in there too, all those weekends are becoming good for something.'_

"Why does it sound like you don't want Luna to spend the night at your place? Is it really that bad, or have you grown accustomed to being alone in your home?" Lucy asked, while jotting down ideas in her book.

"Well, I always did want my own room, and I had to wait a long time for it too, so excuse me for being territorial. And maybe I like sleeping on a bed, did you think of that?"

Lucy noticed the attitude in Lynn's voice, but everyone is doing their part and included her, "Well, there's nothing we can do, unless one of the twins is willing to switch and stay with you."

Lynn scoffed, "I'm better off with Luna," she said, remembering how pampered and whiny Lola can get when she travels, and how she can only endure Lana's antics for so long before they both got into an argument.

"It's just a few nights, I think you can manage. Besides, you should get used to it, it'll probably happen again next month for your birthday."

Lynn groaned, "Don't remind me of that! I'm not ready to turn thirty."

"Oh, it's not that bad, Lynn," her mother said, as she took a seat near the sisters. "Heck, I would kill to be thirty again."

Lynn responded, "I'd kill to be eighteen again with some the adult fun and none of the school."

Rita chuckled and Lucy had a small smile at Lynn's comment; not that any of them would blame her. To Lynn, however, it was more about being able to go back to her favorite year, before everything took a nosedive and before she had to say goodbye to him.

"I wouldn't mind going back to being twenty-four," Lucy responded.

"You want to go back to last year?" Lynn asked.

Lucy nodded, "It was the year I sold my first book, and the year I got this ring."

Lynn looked at the black diamond ring that she wore. Years of dating on and off again, and he finally popped the question; despite being financially strapped while attending medical school, Rocky wanted to make sure that she knew that he loved her.

Rita reminisced, "I remember when we saw him shopping for the ring. Your father was thrilled at the idea of another one of his daughters getting married…you know, before he remembered that his daughter was going to get married.

The sisters laughed.

The three women continued the conversation, until they heard a car horn outside.

Lynn quickly turned to Lucy, "Five bucks says that that's Bobby and Lori."

Lucy shook her head, "You always win at these bets, so there's no point in taking part."

Lynn stuck out her tongue, "You're no fun."

Rita called out the rest of the family members, and everyone went to greet their family.

* * *

_The students walked towards the stage, and her heart was pounding faster and faster with each step she took; all the seats, the stack of diplomas ready to handed out, and family members surrounding them as their eyes looked at the graduating class. _

_Everyone took a seat and the principal walked up to the podium, "Ladies and gentlemen, graduates, it is my honor to congratulate…"_

_Lynn knew where this was going. For each of her older sisters' graduations, the principal always had the same speech; it would mention the hard work that students accomplished, the future, college, and overcoming obstacles using the experience from past obstacles._

"…_and once again, congratulations to the Royal Woods High School Class of 2021," finished the principal._

_The valedictorian stepped up to the podium and began to speak, but Lynn couldn't hear a thing._

_She turned to the student next to her, "Can you hear her?"_

_He shook his head. Lynn looked around and saw that some of the audience members were whispering; probably about how difficult it is to hear the girl._

_As the speech came to end, the students stood up and lined up towards the stage. The principal called out the name of the salutatorian and with each name, Lynn got more nervous; this was it, with these final steps, she was going to accept her diploma and move on with her life, and she wasn't ready._

"_Lynn Loud," said the teacher into the microphone._

_Myrtle spoke up, "Everyone, Lynn's up on stage."_

_The family looked up from the screen, and saw Lynn on stage, and began to cheer her on as she got her diploma. The sound of loud whistling and cheers coupled with the brightness of the cameras grabbed the attention of everyone around them. _

_As Lynn stepped down from the stage, the family returned their focus to the screen, but could still not find their missing son._

_More and more students received their diplomas and as the last student crossed the stage, the school band began to play._

_The principal took to the microphone one more time, "Let's give a round of applause for our graduates!"_

_The students tossed their caps in the air as the audience cheered for them all._

* * *

Lynn opened the door to her apartment and led Luna inside, "Here it is," she took her older sister's bags, "I'll go put these in my room."

Luna looked around the apartment which reminded Luna of her younger sister's old room; a few balls on the floor, some sports magazines on the coffee table, and even a small family photo on a shelf.

"Hey Luna, do you…a…or some…?"

"What? I can't hear you," Luna walked towards the room to try and hear her sister's question, when a poster caught her attention. She looked at it and wondered why it was so hung a bit low. Curiosity got the best of Luna and she took a peek behind the poster; seeing a hole in the wall, more than likely punched by her younger sister. "Dang it, Lynn…"

"So? Do you want a pizza or not?" Lynn asked; startling Luna, who quickly put the poster back.

"Pizza? At 10:30pm, dude? It's a bit late, don't ya think?"

"Yeah, but the Pizza Shack across the street gives away all of its pizza that didn't get pick up for half price, so…yeah," Lynn said as she walked towards the front door.

"Sure, cold pizza sounds good."

The sisters walked in silence. Luna wanted to ask about the hole in the wall, she wanted to ask how things have been since their last family reunion, "Hey Lynn, can I ask you something …"

"No, they can't customize your pizza! They're leftovers from the day. They're going to be a bit cold and weird, but I don't have a lot of money and they hate when you make a late night order before they close," Lynn complained.

Luna was confused, "What? No. I wanted to ask you about the hole in the wall."

"What hole in the wall? I don't know about a hole in the wall," Lynn said quickly, her eyes shifting back and forth.

"The one in your hallway, behind the poster. Are you okay? You're not–"

"I'm fine, Luna. I was just angry and I punched a hole in the wall, so what!? Who cares! I'll get it fixed one day," Lynn said; keeping her eyes focused on their destination.

"When? Before or after you punch another hole in the wall?"

Lynn clenched her hands into fists, upset at her sister's accusations, "You know what!? Forget about it! You don't have to babysit me, I can handle myself. I've done it before and I can do it again!" Lynn walked away from Luna, muttering, "I should've taken in one of the twins."

That was the problem that Luna saw, she wasn't sure if Lynn was just lying about being fine or telling the truth. She was even curious to know why she punched the wall in anger, but Lynn was getting defensive, and was definitely not going to give her an answer right now.

Unfortunately, the outburst spoiled the rest of the evening, and rather than enjoying a night catching up, the two spent it in silence until they went to sleep.

In the early hours of the morning, Luna quietly walked towards the kitchen, hoping to get a glass of water. She saw her sister lightly snoring on the couch as she for a searched for a cup, before noticing some dirty ones in the sink, "Dang it, Lynn."

She searched the cabinets hoping to find something that she could drink out of, when she didn't find what she was looking for, all she could silently say was, "Dang it, Lynn."

* * *

_As the school band finished playing their instruments, the graduating class marched out of the auditorium and emerged from the rear of the school. Within the crowd, Lynn looked around for her friends to round them up and get a celebratory photo, but kept getting lost in a sea of blue and yellow._

_She sniffed the air and tried to find the familiar scent of motor oil, leather, and sweat._

"_Lynn!" called out Margo, before pulling her into a hug, "I can't believe that high school is officially over._

_She returned the hug, "Yeah, I can't–" her eyes were covered by the person behind her. "I know it's you, Francisco!"_

_He laughed, before uncovering her eyes, "I never could fool you, could I?"_

_She shook her head, "Nope, and now you never will."_

_Margo pulled the two of them close, "Quick! One photo and then we go find the rest of our friends."_

_The three posed in front of Margo's phone and quickly took a selfie, "Give me a minute to text it to you guys."_

_The two phones dinged and checked to make sure that they received the photo from Margo._

"_Let's go find everyone else!" Lynn happily exclaimed, before she saw her family running towards her. _

"_LJ! LJ!"_

_Lynn turned around to see her family with looks of worry as they try to catch their breaths, "What's wrong with you guys?"_

"_Lincoln…he's gone missing," said the elder Lynn, "We have to go find him."_

_Lynn opened her mouth, before Margo spoke up, "Do you need help looking for him?"_

_The group searched where they assumed that Lincoln would most likely be, but couldn't find him. Crowds began to form as families took photos with their loved ones, but the Louds were still searching for the missing family member._

_Albert phoned the family, "I talked to one of the parking lot attendants. He mentioned that they saw a man with white hair and blue suit get into an ambulance before the ceremony started."_

"_There's a hospital nearby, we can go search the facility," Lisa suggested, before the family jumped into Vanzilla._

_Lynn Sr. noticed that Lynn wasn't in the vehicle, "LJ, we have to go!"_

_She sighed and told her friends, "I'll see you guys around."_

_As she opened the side door, Lincoln's phone caught her attention._

* * *

As the family took their seats in the auditorium, Lynn pulled out her phone and called Lincoln, "Hey Stinkoln, where are you? You better not be trying to ditch graduation again."

The sisters shook their heads at the comment, remaining quiet until Lucy spoke up, "Still can't let that go, can you?"

"I've let it go. I'm just wondering where they are, I mean everyone else is here, and he's cutting it really close."

Lucy didn't believe her, but she was right, the ceremony is about to start and Lincoln still hasn't arrived. She looked around at her family; their father crying, Luan with the camera, Lola texting away on her phone, Lori with her arms around Bobby, and Luna keeping an eye on Lynn.

"Is there a reason that Luna is staring at you?"

Lynn shrugged her shoulders as she kept her eyes on the entrances, "I don't know. She's been like that all weekend. Every time I move in the apartment, she looks at me. I go the kitchen; there she is keeping an eye on me, I go to bathroom, and she stares at me, I go to the balcony and she stares at me; it's getting annoying."

"What did you do?"

"Why do you assume that I did something? Isn't it possible that she did something?"

"What happened before she started staring at you? You can't blame me for being curious as to why Luna is staring, so excuse me for assuming that you did something," she said.

"You're excused," Lynn said, purposefully ignoring the question.

Lincoln and Ronnie Anne walked through the entrance, and Lynn calls them, "About time you two got here."

Ronnie Anne groaned and took a seat, "We had to stop at the pharmacy, I think it's something we ate, right Lame-O?"

Lincoln nodded and clutched his stomach a bit.

Bobby spoke up behind them, "I told you that that hot dog looked a bit weird."

"I got it, Bobby. Now Linc and I are paying the price, because we wanted fast convenient food we could eat in the car. Happy?"

Lincoln pulled out a bottle of water and some medicine from a bag and handed some to his wife.

"Well at least you're here, Stinkoln," Lynn playfully told her brother.

Lincoln groaned, "Not now, Lynn. You can bring that up when my stomach isn't trying to turn itself into a pretzel."

"Bring what up?" asked Ronnie Anne.

"The time he ended up in the hospital because he lost his phone."

Ronnie Anne's interest was piqued; Lincoln always had a good story when it came to growing up with his large family, and she was trying to figure out how a lost phone turned into a hospital trip for her husband.

Lincoln sighed, "Is this really the place to be telling that story?"

"I think so," Lynn replied. "I mean it's perfect don't you think?"

He sighed. It does make sense, but he didn't want to bring up that story from twelve years ago, when they were supposed to be celebrating Lily's big day.

"Alright, I won't say a thing," she said out loud, before turning to Ronnie Anne, and whispering, "I'll tell you later."

* * *

_The Louds burst through the entrance of the emergency room, and ran to the front desk to get information. The tracking signal began to show a fourteenth green dot, which confirmed that Lincoln was indeed at the hospital._

_Lynn Sr. talked to the nurse, but began to panic as he tried to find the right words, "O-Our son…missing…graduation…old man…emergency…phone…"_

_Rita placed a hand on his shoulder to calm him down, "Honey, I've got this. We think that our son, Lincoln Loud, may have been admitted into this hospital."_

_Lisa scoffed, "Think? My tracking device has yet to be wrong after over five years of use."_

_The nurse typed away on the computer, and shook her head, "No, I don't see a Lincoln Loud in our system."_

"_Check again!" screamed the Loud patriarch, surprising both himself and everyone around him. "I'm sorry, but please, check again!"_

_The sisters took a seat as the parents stayed put at the nurse's desk._

_Lori looked at Lynn as she played with the tassel of her cap, "Lynn, why are you still wearing your graduation gown?"_

"_I haven't had my picture with everyone, its bad luck."_

_None of the sisters could figure out where that superstition came up, but Lori knew that Lynn was going to adamantly keep her cap and gown on until she got a photo with everyone._

_Lisa looked at her tracking device, "He's in the hospital, but I don't possess a detailed map of the facility to determine where he may be."_

_Lynn continued to move her head to play with the tassel, before Luna spoke up, "Would you stop doing that? How can you be playing at a time like this?"_

_She shrugged her shoulders, "I don't know, besides, I'm sure he's fine."_

_That didn't calm the nerves of anyone. All of them kept thinking of what reason Lincoln could have had to end up in the hospital, and nothing _

_Lynn took off her cap and spun it around on her finger, before losing control and running over to grab it. After picking it up off the ground, she saw a sign for the cafeteria, which immediately got her stomach rumbling._

_As Lynn walked, she grabbed the attention of patients and workers alike, who were both curious of her attire, but still congratulated her. _

_In the cafeteria, Lynn pulled out her brother's phone and saw the time; it was lunch, and while the usual Loud tradition was going home and enjoying a cookout amongst the family members, she was sitting in a hospital cafeteria eating a cold and bland sandwich._

_Rather than return to the emergency room, Lynn wandered around, figuring that it was better than sitting around with people moaning in pain or her sisters who were rightfully worried about their brother._

"_Are you lost?" as voice asked from behind._

_Lynn turned around, "Nope, just wandering around."_

"_Well, hospitals aren't for 'wandering around', where's your family?"_

"_In the emergency room looking for my brother," Lynn responded._

"_Is he okay?"_

_Lynn shrugged her shoulders, "Aside from having white hair since birth, I think so."_

_The custodian laughed, "Wait, white hair? Is he wearing a blue suit with his hair slicked back?"_

"_Maybe? I left before seeing him."_

"_I think I saw someone who looked like him in the maternity ward. Do you want me to lead you to him?"_

_Lynn nodded and she followed the custodian. As soon as she caught sight of Lincoln she called out to him, "Hey! I found you," Lynn said before thanking the custodian for helping her find her brother. "Man, did you scare everyone."_

_Lincoln laughed nervously, "I didn't mean to. I was just going to go get my phone and the next thing I know, I see Ms. DiMartino in the parking lot after her water broke and I end up getting in the ambulance with her."_

_Lynn chuckled before handing him back his phone; she almost couldn't believe the story, but it's not like her brother would lie about something so ridiculous. _

_She looked at the babies through the window, "Which one is the baby?"_

_He shrugged his shoulders, "I don't know. I don't even think that the baby is born yet."_

* * *

"There we go," Rita said as she placed the pictures of Lily's graduation in the album. "Soon, we'll start filling it with all the pictures from your ceremonies," she told her grandchildren.

Rita patted the old book, which has been in the family since Lori graduated high school. Each page is filled with photos of her children's high school graduation, and it warms her and her husband's hearts when they look back and see the memories and pride in everyone's eyes.

Isabella, Lori's oldest and only daughter, took the book and skimmed through the album, "Where's mom's picture, grandma? There's Aunt Lola, Aunt Lucy, Aunt Luan."

Rita took the album from her, and turned it to the front, where the pictures from Lori's graduation were. It was the family's first high school graduation and everyone was ecstatic to see the oldest young Loud graduate.

Alfredo, Lori's son, looked at the photo in disbelief, "That's mom? Are you sure, grandma?"

"She looks so pretty in this picture," Isabella states, "And look at how little aunt Lily is!" the girls squeals at seeing her now adult aunt as an infant.

Rita turns the pages and the kids sit nearby to look at the photos of the graduations. Each picture is filled with smiles, tears, and the graduate with every member of the family.

"Wow, grandpa is crying in mom's photo too," said Alfredo. He turns the page, "Hey! It's aunt Leni!"

Charlotte and Giovanni tug on the book to get a closer look at it.

The boy looked up at his grandmother, "How come aunt Lisa looks tired, grandma?"

Rita took a closer look and tried to recall, "I don't remember. It was so long ago," she lied. Rita remembered; Lisa was exhausted from trying to write about her concerns involving graduation requirements to the Michigan school board. However, Rita didn't feel like going into further detail with the children at the moment, so she feigned innocence.

The children looked through all the photos; each graduating Loud in a large family photo, an individual photo, some with friends, and one with each member of the family.

"Look, Miriam, its mom," said Melinda, as the older twin pointed out her mother to her younger sister.

Rita smiled at the photo; Luan had such a bright smile despite what happened months before her last days of high school. She gave her little granddaughters a kiss and turned the page to continue reminiscing.

Giovanni looked up at his grandmother, "How come Aunt Lynn's family photo is all white?" The boy turned the pages of his mother's photo and saw a lot of blue and yellow in the background, but not in his aunt's photo.

"And how come everyone looks tired?" asked Charlotte; referring to the bags under everyone's eyes from the stress that day.

Isabella pointed out, "And why is Uncle Lincoln point at his phone?"

"And how come you got a picture of a lot of babies?" Alfredo asked; Ivan moved his head towards his older brother when he heard the word 'babies'.

"And who's the lady in the bed? Why is she in bed?" asked the twins simultaneously.

Rita tried to take in all of her grandchildren's questions and comments, but they kept asking more and more questions. The woman got the children quiet and began, "That's Lily's principal, back when she was a teacher at the high school, and that little baby," Rita said as she pointed to the baby boy in the photo, "is Salvador Lincoln Ramirez."


	9. Outbursts and Celebrations

'_How long has it been? I know it's been a while, but how many days exactly?'_

Lynn wanted to pull out her phone and check, but she was supposed to be paying attention to her sisters as they were making preparations for her thirtieth birthday. Ever since the hype from Lily's graduation wore off, everything turned straight to her. Dad kept calling her at random hours wanting to discuss party food, Mom would call about party plans, Lily called about decorations, Lisa about music, and Lucy about the ding-dang guest list. She knew the answers to all of them, she's just been stubborn when she's told them that they should just treat it like her other birthdays, but they insisted on 'making it special' because 'it should be a big celebration'; and all she wanted was her dang breakfast.

Lucy called out to Lynn, "Are you listening?"

Lynn absentmindedly said, "Yeah, I'm listening."

"Sigh…so are there any other guests that you–"

"Seventh eldest sister, I suggest you save your breath. The soon-to-be birthday girl is too busy fantasizing about waffles and bacon to answer any of our questions with proper responses."

At the moment, the lists for Lynn's birthday were abysmally bare despite the festivities taking place in less than two weeks. The siblings were ready to reunite again, so at least that part of the guest list is complete, but Lynn wasn't giving anyone much to work with. Her mind was distracted by more important worries.

The waitress brought the sisters their breakfast and Lynn took her plate before drizzling the waffles with maple syrup. Her sisters waited until she took her first bite before bombarding her with questions about the party.

"I haven't heard any songs that you wish to include in your playlist, do you just expect me to make it happen without taking into account what you would want to hear!?" Lisa loudly exclaimed.

"And what about decorations!? Is there a theme or do I just go to the store and grab whatever catches my eye? It's your party, not mine!"

"What about guests? So far all I have is just family. What about Margo, or Paula, or your other friends, do you plan on inviting any of them?"

Lynn continued to eat; ignoring her younger sisters. _'Let's see there's thirty days in April, thirty-one in May…C'mon Lynnsanity! You used to be the state Math Bowl champion! You know you can do easy math like addition! Then again, everyone keeps talking!'_

Lily attempted to steal Lynn's bacon off of her plate, when Lynn moved her plate from her youngest sister's theft attempt.

"At least we know she's paying attention, although it is rude to ignore us Lynn," Lily said; annoyed at her older sister.

'_Lisa could probably tell me. If I ask, I can finally get it out of my head and focus on everyone else.'_

"Hey Lisa, how many days have passed since March 28th?"

The sisters looked at her; confused by the strange question that came from Lynn.

"Seventy-five days. Upon today's completion it will be seventy-six days, why?"

Lynn shook her head, "No reason," she said before she took a sip of her coffee.

The sisters eyed Lynn suspiciously; wondering why she would ask such a thing out of nowhere and why that date in particular.

Lynn quickly finished and got up, "Sorry I can't stick around longer, but I have to go. I'll text you guys some party details later. Bye."

"Hold it right there," Lisa said grabbing onto Lynn's arm, "You aren't leaving until we get something out of you. We've been patient, nay, beyond patient, the least you could do is give us something to work with," she complained.

"Fine, I want blood-pumping music that people can dance to, nothing too teenager-y, but with some slower songs to relax the mind or slow dance to," Lynn turned to Lily, "There's no theme, just go with some reds, and remember, if it looks like Lola and Leni would like, I probably won't," she turned to Lucy, "As for my guest list, it's just family. Margo can't come, but we were going to celebrate another day, and my other friends and I were going to do something different, I don't know! Maybe go to the lake! Now let go of my arm, Lisa!"

Lisa let go, and Lynn walked out in a huff, "Well she seems rather irritable, don't you think?"

Lily and Lucy glanced over at each other, before returning their attention to their breakfast.

* * *

_Today was the day – the last day. For the past three weeks, she had been counting down the days, and it was finally here. No more worrying about tests or professors or reading boring textbooks until the fall; all she had to worry about was waiting for her family to arrive so that she could go home and begin her care-free summer._

_Lynn's roommate, Megan, yawned as she saw the athlete stretch for her morning run, "Aren't you going to start packing soon? Your family is going to be here in a few hours."_

"_Eventually, I'm just gonna go for a run real quick and then I'll get started."_

_Megan went back to bed, "Just don't put it off until the last minute again."_

"_I won't, I can handle it," Lynn said before running out of the room._

_Megan didn't believe her roommate, especially with Lynn's history of putting boring things off for the last minute, but she knew that nagging her roommate would do no good, so she let her go._

"_Just a short run, and I'll be back to pack up," Lynn told herself._

_That's what she told herself last time, and she ended up having her family help her pack, but she's been getting better at not putting things to the last minute. She was looking forward to going home, so she could hang out with her siblings and maybe even see her friends again. _

_Her thoughts turned to her friends. Due to classes and practice, Lynn didn't have much of an opportunity to talk with everyone while not conflicting with someone's schedule. Luckily, she has her college friends, but Bryton, Megan, and Cesar aren't into sports and thus they always had to do something else._

"_I wonder if anyone is coming back home?" Lynn asked herself._

_Unlike her, most of her friends were scouted to play in other states, so she isn't sure if they are going to go through the hassle of packing, just to go back in a few months, but she hoped at least somebody came home. _

_As she began her run, she passed his dorm before stopping and briefly looking at his window. Soon, he was going to walk across the stage, and then move on with his life. It was hard for her to believe that months ago he looked at her like she was meathead jock with sports on the brain to eventually looking at her like a girlfriend._

_That felt weird._

_Even after so many months, she couldn't believe that she was someone's girlfriend. Someone who looked at her and liked her, someone who told her that he saw more than just a dumb jock, someone who cared enough to help her succeed. _

_Now he's gone._

_She continued to run, but her mind kept going back to that window in that dorm. Months – gone! Just like that, all because he decided to go to school in another state._

_It's uncharted territory for her. She's seen her friends date, but she never got around to actually doing it herself and now she's stuck trying to make sense of her feelings. _

_She could feel her eyes burning as she thought about what happened a few nights ago. It kept playing over and over again in her mind, and it didn't make things better. Lynn knew that she could have reacted better, but in the end, it isn't going to make a difference; he's leaving and there's nothing she can do about it._

_Lynn pulled out her phone to check on the battery, and quickly saw the time, "Crap!" she yelled, before running back to her dorm._

* * *

Lynn pulled into the parking lot. She spent all day driving around trying to think of something to clear her head, and nothing worked. Usually a round at the gym was her go to place for clearing her head of everything that was on her mind, but it hasn't worked too well for a long time. When she was younger, it was easy; punch, run, throw or hit and she was able to make herself feel better. Now, as she gets older, Lynn couldn't find the same peace, so she began to resort to other more 'relaxing' methods.

'_Not gonna bug anyone today. How else will I know that I have a grip than if I don't try it all by myself?'_

The sun was starting to set, and there weren't a lot of people at the lake. She left her phone in the glove compartment, walked up to the water, took off her shoes and dove in. The sound of the waves slowly crashing almost put her in a trance.

'_It's been a long ass time since I've come here alone.'_

She jumped into the water and floated on the surface looking up at the orange sky.

'_Dang birthday…why do I have to get older? Wish Lisa could've just stopped the clock around twenty-one…well…not really…maybe eighteen…long before I turned nineteen…'_

Almost thirty years, and all of it passed in the blink of an eye. One minute she's born, then she learns to pick up a ball, the next day she starts school, and then she goes off to college, and now she's floating on a lake contemplating her life.

'_Ugh…I am too young for some mid-life crisis!'_

Lynn shook her head, "Nope. You are not gonna feel sorry for yourself LJ! You're gonna get up and finish the seventy-sixth day of this year! I don't care how, but you're gonna do it!"

She took a deep breath and dove down into the water, and went as deep as she could, before coming back up. Lynn took a huge gasp of air when she resurfaced. As the drops of water trickled down and she could feel some of her frustrations leave her body.

The air hit her body and as she shivered, she took it as a sign that she needed to get out of the water. As Lynn headed for her car, she opened her trunk, only to be greeted by an assortment of items stared back at her, "I really should clean this out one day." She moved some of the items, as she looked for some spare clothes. "Why the heck do I still have so much stuff in here?"

It was a habit she acquired years ago, and she couldn't seem to break it. The trunk has been filled over the years with a hammock, spare shoes, a jacket, an empty water jug, a gas can, a pillow, a blanket, a towel, and other assorted items. She pulled out the duffle bag and smelled the contents, "Nope, I'm better off with a towel."

She walked to the driver's seat and set down the towel, "Sorry, Dutch, but it's getting late, and I want to get home," she told the vehicle before stepping in.

Lynn looked at her phone and noticed a bunch of messages from Lucy.

**Lynn, we found a great place**

She opened the attachment from her sister.

**It has plenty of space**

Lucy sent a picture of some of the rooms.

**It's nice and secluded**

Lynn pictured her sister smiling after that message, especially after seeing the picture of the view around the house.

**By the way would you be willing to help us move in on the 25****th****?**

"Yeah, why not," she said out loud before texting it to her sister.

* * *

_Lucy walked into the room, and saw Lynn focus her attention on her Vampires of Melancholia poster. In all the years that she's shared the room with her older sister, she's never given more than a few glances at her posters, although Lucy couldn't tell if Lynn was just randomly staring into space and the poster was just in her way._

"_Are you okay?"_

_Lynn didn't answer._

"_Lynn!" she said louder._

_The older sister snapped her attention to the door where Lucy was, "How long have you been there?"_

"_Just a little bit. Lynn, are you okay? You seem a little different since you've come back from school."_

"_That kind of happens when I've been gone for so many months," Lynn joked._

_Lucy nodded in agreement. In the months that her older sister was gone, she was bound to change, especially when she hasn't been next to her every single day. _

_She took a seat on her bed and watched as her sister continued to stare at the poster. Lucy couldn't tell why the poster seemed to have such a trance on her older sister and it felt strange. She always assumed that such things would never work on Lynn, but the younger sister looked over at her older sister as she waited to see how long her staring was going to continue._

_Lynn felt Lucy's eyes on her and she blinked, before looking away. Lucy's presence began to annoy Lynn, especially with Lucy looking in her direction. She loudly groaned and laid down by her pillow; staring at the basketball hoop._

"_Can you hand me my basketball?"_

_Lucy complied and watched her sister shoot hoops. The sound of the ball passing through the hoop filled the room, but it didn't take the tension from Lynn, who would occasionally glance over at her younger sister as she took out a book to read._

"_Do you have to do that here!? Can't you do that anywhere else?" she snapped at Lucy. _

_The younger sister was taken aback, she knows that Lynn can be a hothead, but she never just snapped at her for reading a book in the same room as her._

_Lynn took a deep breath and grumbled under breath before biting down on her bottom lip in frustration. Lucy wasn't doing anything wrong, but despite her younger sister's quiet nature, the older jock just wanted to be alone. _

_Lucy got up, and as she walked out the door, Lynn stopped her, "Wait…I-I shouldn't have snapped at you like that."_

"_It's fine. I get it."_

_It wasn't that out of the ordinary for her and Lynn to butt heads every once in a while, especially considering their different personalities; Lucy just learned a long time ago that it was a part of life._

"_Yeah," Lynn started. "I think I'm just stressed out about college."_

"_What has you stressed out?"_

_Lynn opened her mouth, when Lincoln knocked on their door, "Hey, Lori's calling us downstairs, she said that she has something to tell us."_

* * *

For the first eighteen years of her life, Lynn loved celebrating her birthday. She loved the balloons, the decorations, the music, the tooth-rotting sweets, and the attention from all of her loved ones. However, as she sat down in her seat, watching her family enjoy themselves she didn't know where she belonged at the moment. She eyes her sisters as they dance with their loved ones, and a sting of jealousy arose, as she wished that she could have had Francisco at the party with her.

A two liter bottle of orange pop was loudly set down in front of her, as Luna took a seat in front of her, "Would you like a drink?"

Lynn shook her head, "Not right now."

The two sisters sat quietly as fast-paced music blared from the speakers. After the last family get-together, the two sisters haven't spoken to each other, and neither one has bothered with an apology after their verbal scuffle. Both stared at the family members dancing in front of them; ignoring each other.

Julius, Luan's husband, passes by with one of his daughters on his feet, and hands Lynn an envelope, "Happy Birthday, Lynn."

"Thank you," she says as she takes the envelope from him. He always gave checks for birthdays, not that Lynn minded, after all, who doesn't mind getting money as a present.

Julius takes a seat with the sisters, but her daughter pulls on his arm, "But daddy, I still want to keep dancing."

"Give me a minute, sweetie," he said as he tried to catch his breath. At nearly forty, Julius had a tough time keeping up with his younger daughters, especially after dealing with people for a living as a television producer. As Luan would say, 'There's something hilarious about seeing a grown man losing an argument against two two-year olds.'

Miriam continued tugging at her father's sleeve, "Daddy," she whined, "I wanna dance."

Julius sighed, "Fine, but is there anything that you want say to your aunt Lynn?"

The little girl turned to her aunt, "Aunt Lynn when do we get cake?"

Lynn and Luna laughed.

Julius sighed and picked up his daughter, "I'm going to go see if your mother can go wear you out a bit." He looked down at his daughter and turned her towards Lynn, "Now try again."

"Happy birthday Aunt Lynn," she said with a bright smile.

Lynn smiled back at the girl, "Thank you, Miriam."

"I'm Melinda!" she whined.

"No you're not," Julius said as he took her in search of Luan.

Lynn turned to Luna, "I can't tell if she was lying, can you?"

Luna shook her head, "You got me. She and her sister are a heck of a lot better at the whole twin swap thing than Lana and Lola ever were."

Slow music began to play on the speakers. Some of the siblings got on the dance floor, and Lynn glanced at the couples dancing. They have love in their eyes as they moved to the music; it made almost made her regret requesting such music.

Lincoln clumsily walked by the sisters, and handed them two champagne glasses, "We gotta celebrate! Wooo!"

"Is he?" Lynn asked as she turned to Luna.

"I think so," she nodded.

Ronnie Anne came from behind, and quietly whispered something in his ear. "Luna, can you help me out with him?"

Luna nodded. As a bartender, she knew a drunk when she saw them, and Lincoln definitely hit the alcohol harder than he normally does. "C'mon little bro, let's get you something to ease up tomorrow's hangover," she said as she lead Lincoln away from the dance floor.

"But I wanna celebrate all the…all the…all the good news tonight," Lincoln slurred.

Ronnie Anne hushed him, "Not tonight, Linc. Now go with Luna, and get something to make yourself more bearable tomorrow."

The two watched as Luna led Lincoln away to get water. Ronnie Anne took the seat that Luna was using and sighed, "Sorry about that," she apologized to the birthday girl, "So what are you doing sitting down, instead of being on the dance floor?"

Lynn shrugged her shoulders, "Just kinda tired. I mean I know it's not late, but still."

Ronnie Anne nodded, understanding her sister-in-law.

"So what exactly is Stinkoln celebrating? He never gets like this for any of our birthday parties, and I doubt he's _that_ happy that I'm turning thirty."

She looked around, before leaning closer to Lynn, "Can you keep a secret?"

Lynn nodded.

"We didn't want to bring it up right now, but…we're having a baby."

Lynn looked at her sister-in-law, surprised by the news, "Hey, congratulations. When'd you find out?"

"This morning. I went to the doctor before we came, so you're the first person we told."

That explained Lincoln's excitement, although Lynn was surprised by her brother's choice of celebration.

'_Wow…a little niece or nephew…about time, Stinkoln.'_

"We'll probably tell everyone tomorrow at breakfast or something," commented Ronnie Anne; she clearly felt more at ease telling someone after holding her tongue all morning.

"We can tell them now. What's the harm?"

Ronnie Anne looked at Lynn, surprised that she would make such a suggestion, "It's your birthday. We can wait until tomorrow to tell everyone."

"Are you sure? I don't mind."

Lily came up to Lynn with a microphone in hand, "C'mon Lynn, time to make your speech."

The speech. Lynn was not looking forward to this. For every milestone birthday, the lucky birthday boy or girl in the family would give a speech. It had never been anything moving, but it was just a fun little tradition that dad started for his fiftieth birthday, and since then everyone did it for their eighteenth, twenty-first, and each decade birthdays.

Lily grabbed Lynn's arm and led her towards Lisa and the turntables. With each step, Lynn's heart began to beat faster and faster in her ribcage. She's had nine years to think up some speech, and she kept blowing it off, even after hearing so many sisters before her.

Lisa turned off the music, "Ladies and gentlemen, may I direct your gazes to the birthday girl on the dance floor."

Everyone clapped before taking their seats. The lights shined on Lynn, and despite being blinded, she could still feel twenty-four pairs of eyes on her.

She swallowed, "Um…wow…thirty dang years. You see four older sisters go through it, but for some reason I didn't see it coming. Maybe I didn't want to…It's been, what, nine years since my last speech, and I still procrastinated."

Some of the siblings chuckled.

"The only thing that's changed is just that instead of school, I've got work, and now I've got extra pairs of eyes looking at me. I've seen some of my sisters and brother get married, and I've stayed the same…I never got to compete professionally on a world stage, heck, I never even got a chance to actually play. Instead…" Lynn felt a lump in her throat. "Instead, here I am…looking at my siblings do these awesome things, like getting these fancy graduate degrees, doing what they love, getting married and having families of their own."

"Dang it, Lynn! I wanted to tell them about the baby!" Lincoln said from the crowd.

Everyone gasped at Lincoln's news, while Ronnie Anne smacked her forehead, as her drunken husband spilled the beans. Murmurs were heard from the crowd, Lynn couldn't tell what they were saying or doing, but somewhere in her mind, they shifted their focus from her to their brother.

Lynn shrugged her shoulders, she turned off the microphone and walked out of the spotlight, "Well, guess the attention's on Stinkoln and Ronnie Anne."

She put the microphone back on stand and walked towards her seat. Lynn was met with her mother, who pulled her into a hug, congratulating her before noticing the look in her daughter's eyes.

"Are you okay, Lynn?"

She nodded, "Yeah, I'm just tired. I'm probably going to head out now."

* * *

_Lynn and Lucy walked down the stairs where all of the family members were gathered. Lori and Bobby were standing in front of the tv and whispered with smiles on their faces. _

_Lynn whispered to Lucy, "What do you think? Baby or some silly anniversary?"_

_Lucy snickered a bit; Lori and Bobby were no strangers to celebrating something silly like first mini golf course date anniversary or lovey-dovey nickname anniversary, but after being together for years, they've tapered down on the number of anniversaries that they celebrated each year. Last time the Louds kept track, the couple was down to eight. _

_The older sister pulled out a five dollar bill, "Wanna bet?"_

_Lucy looked at the bill and was tempted, despite Lynn's history when it came to games of chance, "They're buying a place for themselves."_

"_They're getting married," Lynn responded, before spitting on her hand._

_The younger sister shook her head, before taking a seat on the couch._

"_The bet's still on," Lynn whispered as she took a seat._

_Lori waited for everyone in the family to take their seat before handing Lily a tablet to hold. Staring back at the youngest Loud was the Casagrande family, who _

_Lori excitedly turned to Bobby, "Who should start?"_

"_You should," Bobby assured her._

"_But it's your news too."_

"_But only because of you." _

"_Can someone start?" Lana asked._

_Lori scowled before starting, "As you know, Bobby and I have been together for a few years, and we thought that it was best that we tell everyone at once," she stopped to take a deep breath. "Bobby proposed!" Lori happily exclaimed, as she revealed the diamond engagement ring on her hand._

_After so many years of dating, Bobby finally popped the question and to no one's surprise, Lori said yes. For years, Lori put off idea of marriage solely due to wanting to finish pursuing her degree and now with a fancy MBA degree, she finally accepted his proposal._

_Lynn Sr.'s eyes began to tear up as he pulled Lori in for a big hug, "I can't believe that my baby is getting married."_

_Lynn looked as everyone congratulated Lori and Bobby on their engagement. She could hear Leni and Lola making plans to get together with Lori to discuss details about the ceremony, and soon the other siblings began to jump in their ideas. _

_Lynn looked up towards the stairs and contemplated just going upstairs while everyone was distracted. She turned towards the couple and saw the happiness in both of their eyes, and stayed put in her seat. _

_There was no need for her to bring her problems up today. _

_As the energy in the room began to die down, Lucy turned to Lynn and whispered, "So what were you going to say earlier?"_

_Lynn looked back at Lori and shook her head before giving her younger sister a smile, "Nothing important."_

* * *

Francisco tapped his fingers on the couch as he watched the screen. The news was starting, and as the anchor began to speak, "Good evening, Royal Woods. My name is Eric Heller. We begin…"

His mind wandered. _'It is her birthday. I should do something nice, especially when she went through the hassle of getting me something for my birthday.'_ Francisco turned his head towards his wristwatch. _'But the night is almost over, and what do you get someone at 10:02pm?'_

He shouldn't have waited this long, but his mind has been preoccupied with what to tell Lynn. Since March, he's racked his brain wondering what to do about their relationship; yes, he wants something more than just hanging out, but every time he gets together with her, he behaves the same way he did when he was young and had a crush on her.

The television screen flashed an announcement for the Independence Day fireworks show in about two weeks. He turned off the tv and slowly got up, "Hopefully Romano's is still open."

It wasn't much; seriously, who gets someone a sandwich for their birthday, but it's at least better than showing up empty-handed. He's had plenty of time to think about how he can make her birthday even better, but his time has been occupied with more pressing matters.

'_This is what I get for waiting until the last minute.'_

Francisco pulled into the parking lot of Romano's and saw the lights off. He quickly got out of his car and hoped that maybe just one person would be kind enough to open the door. He looked inside, but no one was there. Francisco knocked on the door, hoping that maybe the family would hear him upstairs, and have mercy on the dumb man.

'_C'mon…Martino, Raffaelina, Stefano, Teresa, Laura, someone…'_

A window opened from upstairs, "Allontanati dalla porta, bastardo. Non vedi che siamo chiusi, ora vaffanculo!" yelled a man from upstairs. Stefano pointed a flashlight towards Francisco, and was surprised by the late-night visitor, "Francesco?"

"Sorry to bother you at this hour, but is there any chance I can get a sandwich?"

The younger man turned back inside, spoke to his family. Martino looked out the window, ignoring Francisco as he looked around them.

The two men came down, and let him in the door. Stefano stayed by the door and Martino grumbled about the late hour.

"I'm so sorry. I'll gladly pay you extra," said Francisco.

"You'll pay double! You scared my mamma and sorelle, and almost gave babbo a heart attack!" Stefano loudly said from the door.

Martino looked at him, "Cosa vorresti?"

Francisco looked at him, confused; the man never spoke to him in Italian.

"He wants to know what you want," Stefano translated.

"Oh, um…spicy sub with extra cheese and hot sauce," he ordered; just like Lynn ordered the last time they came.

"Pensi che sia pazzo? Perché altrimenti sarebbe arrivato così tardi," Stefano asked outloud to his father.

Francisco didn't understand everything, but he did manage to pick up some words, "I know it's late, but the sandwich is for someone's birthday."

Both men looked at him confused, "Compleanno?" asked Martino.

"Sí, cumpleaños! Yes, I know it's weird, now can I get my dang sandwich already!"

The two men looked him, shocked by the sudden outburst. Normally, Francisco was so calm, especially compared to Lynn, but to hear him yell a demand like that, rubbed them the wrong way.

Both men scowled at him, Stefano spoke up, "You know for someone begging to come inside, you could at least be more patient."

"I'm sorry. I've just been going through some things," he said as his felt some slight tension in his leg, "I know that it's not your fault and that I shouldn't take it out on you both, especially after you've–"

Stefano gestured to stop, "Forget about it. But a sandwich? That's a heck of a weird gift to give on someone's birthday."

Francisco shrugged, "I know. But I have other plans; it's not just the sandwich."

"You better. Cause I don't know anyone who would just be happy with a sandwich as a present, except maybe someone dying of hunger."

Francisco thanked the father and son and ran to his truck.

Raffaelina stepped out of the back room, and looked at the driver of the truck that is just pulling out of the parking space, "Francesco? It is so late. Why did he come?"

Stefano shrugged his shoulders, "He said something about a sandwich and a birthday."

Martino muttered to himself as he cleaned a sauce stain off of the counter, "Non se perché non potesse aspettare fino al mattino."

The woman looked at the calendar hanging on the wall; she noticed the date and whispered, "Buon compleanno, Linda."

* * *

_Lynn headed towards the dining room, which was filled with stacks of bridal magazines, notebooks, a calculator, and craft supplies. Lori just announced that she was engaged less than few days ago but it seemed as if the engagement occurred over a year ago. Excitement is still in the air, but Lynn thought that it seemed ridiculous at how quickly the house turned into a bridal shop._

"_LJ!" called her father from the kitchen, "Do you want to help me with these cake samples?"_

_She walked into the kitchen, which was also a mess, as her dad had mixing bowls filled with random cake batters and frostings. Lynn dipped a spoon into the frosting and relished the sweet taste._

_Lynn Sr. saw his fifth eldest daughter sample the frosting, "What do you think?"_

"_It's fine, dad. Why do you need my help? You're always super creative in the kitchen, I doubt I can help in any way."_

_He shook his head, "I am just frazzled trying to think of what the perfect cake would be for Lori's wedding and I'm trying so many different combinations that I think that my mouth is becoming numb to sugar. I was hoping that you would help me out, at least to taste things."_

_That didn't sound real to Lynn, but being a taste tester wouldn't be such a bad way to spend her day. _

"_What do you think that your sister would like?"_

_Lynn shrugged her shoulders; Lori is now the type of woman who likes to believe that she has a sophisticated palate, which isn't something that Lynn is too familiar with. _

_She grabbed a bite of chocolate cake and frosted it with some strawberry frosting, then a vanilla sponge with mint, carrot with coffee, white chocolate with chocolate, lemon with caramel, confetti with chocolate chips; each combination getting a little stranger than the last, but it didn't stop her._

_Lynn Sr. looked over at his daughter, who seemed to have been lost in her thoughts as she randomly dipped her spoon in a frosting. Between the wedding news and the preparations over the last couple of days, he hasn't stopped to ask about how classes and softball have been this semester._

_Lynn walked to the pantry. She grabbed some cayenne pepper and poured the powder over the cream cheese frosting, "What are you doing?"_

_Lynn sampled her combination before responding, "I'm getting sick of the sweetness! I need something to cut down on it!" She walked back towards the pantry and the spice rack, "Do you have any chili oil or cinnamon?"_

"_You think Lori would like that?"_

_She didn't answer as she continued her search. A bag of popped popcorn, marshmallows, and hot sauce caught her attention and she took the items back to the counter to sample together with the cakes and frostings._

"_Lynn Jr. Focus! We're trying to find the right combination of cake and frosting for the wedding cake, we can have some snacks later," he said as he tried to get her attention back on track._

_It has always been a hassle, especially when things began to get repetitive; she gets sidetracked and no longer wants to concentrate on the task at hand. The light bulb went off in his head and he knew how to get her to concentrate again._

_He pulled out some paper and stood next to her, "Wanna see who can taste the most combinations?"_

_He grabbed some cake and frosting and wrote down his combination, "One," he took another,  
"Two! Hurry up, I'm getting ahead!" _

_Lynn crossed her arms and snapped, "Can I just go!? I am so sick of the house going on and on about the wedding. I mean seriously, we don't even know when it is!"_

_He looked over at her; surprised by the outburst. Her typical outbursts are usually more physical than verbal, but he hasn't seen her snap like that without reason in years. _

"_Are you okay?" he asked, hoping to see what could be bothering her._

"_I'm fine. I'm just gonna go and hit the punching bag for a bit. I'll be back…" she said before heading towards the garage._

* * *

Lynn opened the door to her apartment. She closed the door and kicked off her shoes, "Well that was fucking embarrassing…" she said to herself.

She sat by the door, and thought about what just happened – the sappy speech, avoiding her guests all night, and just leaving as people were enjoying themselves. She should have stayed; why should she bother being at home plagued with her thoughts, she knew where that lead her, but she could have at least put up a damn smile, so that everyone can celebrate like they wanted to.

'_Because that only makes things worse,'_ her conscience told her, before she quietly vented her frustrations.

She tried to recall how many times she did that in her life, but it doesn't solve her current problem, especially if she began to dwell for too long.

"I didn't even want the stupid party…what do I have to celebrate? Being lonely? Having a job that I barely like? Falling behind yet another sibling? Oh yeah, that's all worth celebrating!"

When she was behind her older sisters she didn't mind; after all, she was right behind them. Then Lincoln got married, Lucy's getting a house, Lana has her dream job, Lola is breezing through college, Lisa always had things figured out, and Lily is just about to start her journey through adulthood.

'_I wonder how long until she beats me?'_

Lynn pulled out her phone, and looked through her contacts. She stopped at Francisco's name. She wanted him at her party, heck, she didn't even care about that party that much; she missed seeing him. Ever since their 'breakup', they don't see each other as much. In the past year, Lynn grew accustomed to seeing him at least three times a week; now she is going cold turkey and she hated it; the trembling, the restlessness, the insomnia, and her random bouts of irritability were beginning to get to her.

She really needs to apologize to her family; they went through so much hassle to make this day special and she didn't show her appreciation. She knew that was being uncooperative with her family for weeks, not to mention that she just walked away almost as soon as the party started.

'_Next time I see them,'_ she thought as she pulled out her phone to jot down the note.

Lynn took a deep breath; she's been thinking for a while about what to do about her and Francisco's relationship. She pressed on his name on her phone and waited for him to pick up.

His voicemail picked up. Lynn started, "Hey, um…sorry to bug you like this, but, um…I was hoping we could talk, you know, face to face…so, uh…let me know when you're free…bye…"

She hung up and groaned; she definitely sounded nervous, and he was going to know, but enough was enough, and she was ready to face him.

Lynn took a deep breath and got up to get ready for bed.

* * *

_Lynn stomped to the garage and pulled out her boxing gloves; whenever she was frustrated she would exercise to deal with whatever would be bothering her. With each punch she would typically feel the weight on her shoulders lift off, but her mind kept racing with everything that has been going on at school. First the tutoring, then the classes, tests, dating, softball; her mind couldn't shut it off. _

_She stopped punching the bag and lightly punched her head, "What the heck is wrong with you?"_

_She took a deep breath, and assured herself, "It's just the first few days back…in a couple of weeks, it'll be like nothing even happened. I should probably also apologize to dad…"_

_It's worked before and she assured herself that she can power through her issues just fine._

_The sound of Vanzilla pulling into the driveway grabbed her attention, and she looked through the garage window and saw her sisters and mother exiting the vehicle with bags in hand._

"_How much wedding stuff do you need? You just found out a little while ago."_

_Every conversation lately has seemed to be about the wedding, and it was getting annoying. Morning, noon, and night, if she heard a sister talking, chances are that the wedding was what they were talking about. _

_The sound of her sisters and mom died down and Lynn began to punch again, "Just a little more. Push it, Lynnsanity! You can do it!"_

_The door opened and Luna walked through with her guitar in hand, "You don't mind if I'm in here, do you?_

_Lynn shook her head and went back to punching. As Luna strummed her guitar, Lynn stopped hitting the punching bag and began to grind her teeth. She turned her eyes toward her older sister and could feel her heart rate rising as she saw the guitar pick strumming each string. _

"_Do you have to do that?" Lynn snapped._

_Luna scowled, "I asked if you didn't mind me being here and you said no."_

"_Well I changed my mind!"_

"_Well I'm not leaving," Luna declared as she stood her ground._

"_Neither am I."_

_The two sisters stared at each other before going back to their individual activities; refusing to leave. Lynn began to punch and her mind began to wander to back to school. She punched harder, but the thoughts came at her with the same force._

"_Why isn't this working!"_

_Lynn looked over at Luna, who has since plugged a pair of headphones to her speaker. The musician paid no mind to Lynn as her fingers worked their magic on the stringed instrument, and it sort of comforted Lynn to know that Luna wasn't asking any questions._

"_Just a few more days, Lynnsanity…just a few more days…"_

* * *

Francisco drove to her apartment. His heart was pounding. The moment he knocks on that door, they're going to have to talk, whether he was ready or not. He didn't know why he was nervous, he knows what he wants to tell her; he's known for a while, but every time he gets ready to dial, his mind wanders. Instead of dating again, they would probably go back to being friends, or worse, not even friends; things would go back to before he met her again in that parking lot, and he was afraid of that.

He sat in his truck longer than he cared admit, the sandwich was getting cold and clock flashed 11:42pm. Francisco shifted in the driver's seat, his back was aching, and the truck cab was feeling smaller as he stayed put. Francisco quickly pulled out a pill to relieve his back and stepped out of the truck.

He walked towards her front door, sandwich in hand, and knocked on the door.

'_There's no going back. Time to man up and have a serious conversation about this.'_

Lynn stared at the glowing red lights of her alarm clock. She's been trying to sleep for hours, it wasn't new, but the constant tossing and turning was annoying her, _'450 days down, and way more to go…'_ It was almost midnight, and as soon as she saw 12:00, it will officially be 451 days, but she didn't want to see it at the moment.

She heard the knocking on the door, but decided to ignore it; she didn't feel like dealing with anyone at the moment. The person at the door knocked again. Lynn stared again at her alarm, "Who the heck is at the door at this hour?" she whispered to herself.

She looked at the baseball bat that she has in the corner, _'I guess if someone is trying to break in, I could probably bash their skull in. Boom! Problem solved.'_

The knocking persisted.

"Seriously!? It's nearly midnight, what the hell kind of moron knocks on someone's door at this hour?" she gets up from her bed and walks to her front door, bat in hand.

As she approaches her door, she mutters to herself, "Can't even sleep. Just want to be left alone. Pissed off at–Francisco?" she says as she looks at the peephole.

Lynn quickly opens the door, and he holds out the sandwich, "Happy Birthday Lynn."

She looks at him, stunned at both the gesture and his presence.

"Look, I know that we haven't spoken in weeks, and I don't know…maybe you don't even want to see me, but I just need to get this out there." He took a deep breath, "I miss you, and hell I've missed you for more than just these three months that we've been apart. I miss those few days together. Heck, I even miss you punching me in the arm, as unbelievable as that is. The point is I–"

She grabbed his collar and pulled him into a kiss. She wasn't sure if it was the stupid gesture or his dumb speech or even if it was because how much she missed him herself, maybe it was all three, but all she knew was that she wanted his company.

Their lips briefly separated and they stared into each other's eyes before he cupped her cheek with his hand, and she pulled him into her apartment.


	10. Appearances and Corbett's Lodge

Lynn opened her eyes and looked around her bedroom, which was mostly dark except for the light coming through the curtains. She could feel Francisco's arm wrapped around her, and she smiled as she turned to face him. She couldn't sleep and she wished that sleep would come easy to her, but it.

'_Sure gave myself one hell of a birthday present.'_

She didn't picture Francisco arriving at her front door with the intention of spending the night, but she didn't give him much choice. At some point, she did want to apologize, but having him in bed next to her was not the way she pictured it happening.

Figuring that she'd have to wait until morning, Lynn made another attempt at sleeping, but she began to toss and turn.

'_Am I supposed to just wait until morning to talk? I just wanna get this over with now! Wait! What am I gonna say? I mean I know that I have to apologize, but what else?'_

"I'm sorry…" she apologized out loud; hoping that the words would come to her.

Francisco opened his eye and saw her talking out loud towards the wall. She kept apologizing over and over again, as if trying to say more than just the few words. It was strange hearing that from her, especially since she rarely liked to acknowledge that she was in the wrong.

"Why?" he started.

Lynn jumped a bit after hearing him talk, "I know that there wasn't any reason to push you…but when Elena said that you weren't interested in dating, and when you didn't want me to tell anyone, I thought…" she shook her head. "It doesn't matter. I should have at least heard you out."

Honestly, Francisco was surprised by what she was saying. He knew that he was being more secretive than necessary, but he spent so much time thinking about how Elena would take potential future news, that he didn't spend enough time worrying about Lynn's feelings.

He shook his head, "Don't…I wasn't any better. Hell, I was worse…I should have at least been honest with you instead of telling you that I was already going to tell her. I just didn't want things to get awkward with her knowing. I know that I've told you that before, but I guess I wasn't ready to tell her, even though I think you were."

Lynn took a deep breath, "Yeah, well what kind of say do I have? You're her dad."

He took her hand, "You still have a say with everyone else, and I shouldn't have made you keep this a secret just because I was paranoid."

She rested her head on his shoulder, "What do we do now?"

"Sleep would be nice," he joked, "but I'd like to at least try again with our relationship."

She nodded her head, "I'd like that too."

The couple sat in silence. It's nice to finally talk this out, but there was still one more thing on Lynn's mind.

"I know that you don't want me to make it obvious in front of Elena, but does this mean that we're gonna go out more as a couple?

He nodded his head, "I think that that's more than fair," he said before giving her a kiss. "Look, I know that I was being unreasonable, but if you are ready to tell someone, I'm going to be supportive, and I'm definitely not going to stop you."

She didn't have anyone in mind at the moment, but regardless, Lynn would still honor his wishes and not make it obvious that both of them are together in front of Elena; she was happy to no longer feel restricted.

Lynn pulled him into another kiss and rekindled their relationship.

* * *

_Caroline excitedly knocked on Francisco's door. It was the first day of winter break and while students were happy to be done with classes for the semester, she was excited to see her boyfriend with a surprise in mind. _

_Francisco opened the door, and smiled upon seeing her, "Hey! I thought that you would be packing up to go home, what are you doing here?"_

_She gave him a kiss, "I have a surprise for you, close your eyes." He complied, and she told him, "Alright, now open them."_

_Francisco opened his eyes and saw his girlfriend holding a piece a paper. He looked at the sheet and saw a travel itinerary for a roundtrip flight from San Jose to Detroit and it had both of their names on it. _

_With a knowing smile, she explained, "I thought that this would be a nice change from being here by yourself like last winter break, and I'm sure your mom and brother would love to see you for the holidays."_

_He smiled, "Thank you, I appreciate it."_

_Aside from the occasional phone call home, he didn't get many opportunities to check in on his family until summer. As he took the itinerary from her, he looked over at both of their names and he smiled at the chance to see his mom and brother for both his birthday, Christmas, and New Year's._

_She smiled back, "Well…my dad got us the tickets, and he did want to meet you."_

_Francisco wasn't sure how to react; the two have only been dating for a short time, despite knowing each other for a year, but he figured that if Caroline was anything to go off of, then her family should be easy to get along with._

"_Okay," he nodded, "that seems easy enough."_

_She bit her lip, "Francisco, do you remember what I told you about my family?"_

"_Yeah, your younger sister is in high school, your dad runs an insurance company and your mom does something…"_

"_She volunteers with a charitable organization in her free time," she told him, "No, but I mean, do you remember why I came to school all the way out here?"_

_Francisco knows what she's trying to say. To her, he is just a guy from a small town, but to her family, he was probably going to be seen entirely different. Unlike him, she came from a home where money problems weren't an issue, she could own whatever reasonable thing that she wanted, and _

_He went up to her and looked at her in the eye before smiling and assuring her, "I understand that you're worried, but I think I can handle it. Besides, it's just dinner…in the nice side of Huntington Oaks…in a gated community…"_

"_Corbett's Lodge," she corrected, "They want to meet you at Corbett's Lodge."_

_He nodded. He knew that he was getting nervous before she mentioned the restaurant, but now, he was sure that his face was giving away his emotions. He rarely goes to sit-down restaurants, and the idea of going to one where there is likely a dress code, scared him a bit._

* * *

The sound of beeping stirred Francisco awake, he looked at his watch and saw the time, 4:58am. He turned off the alarm before Lynn woke up, and remembered that it was Wednesday and he had to be at work. Rather than get up, he set the watch to the side on the nightstand and lay back down on the pillow.

"Why did your watch go off?" Lynn mumbled.

"It was just to wake me up for work."

Lynn stayed silent, which made Francisco think that she fell asleep again. He turned to her and closed his eyes. He was used to waking up early, but what was the harm in skipping one day of work? All he needed to do was just call his supervisor and say that he wasn't feeling well and thus he would be given a chance to actually make Lynn's birthday better.

"Aren't you going to get up? You hate playing hooky."

Francisco opened his eyes, "What's one day?" he asked, his back ached as he moved; it's been over six hours since he last took his medicine.

"Yeah, right. I know you, Francisco. Just go to work."

"I'm serious, Lynn. I don't mind missing one day of work. Besides, we can use today to make your birthday better. I mean are you honestly happy with a cold and soggy sandwich as your birthday present?"

As he mentioned the sandwich, she wondered where it ended up, "No, but I sure as hell liked the rest of my present…"

Francisco blushed, "Regardless, we can do something more fun. It is a Wednesday after all, a lot of places are going to be less crowded."

"Just do it a different day. Surprise me!" she said as she gently kicked him to get him out of bed.

"Why are you so insistent on kicking me out? Are you ashamed of me?" he asked in a teasing tone.

"No, but this is for your own good, so yes, I'm kicking you out," she said as she lightly kicked him away from her.

Francisco got up and sat on the edge of the bed, "Fine," he said as he scanned the dark room for his clothes. "Can I use your shower? I don't think that I'll have much time to take one once I get home."

"Go for it," Lynn said as she covered her face with the blanket.

She heard the shower running and sighed as the noise kept her awake. Lynn closed her eyes, but the sound of the water kept her from going to sleep. A few minutes later the water stopped, and she heard him stepping out of the shower.

"About time," she joked.

Francisco silently grabbed his things, but couldn't find his belt or his shoes. He tried to search as quietly as possible so as to not wake up Lynn, but he heard a voice coming from underneath the sheets.

"Whatever you're missing, it's probably in the living room or the hallway."

"Thanks," he whispered before walking away as quietly as he could.

Lynn pulled her head out of the covers and heard him as he tripped on one of his shoes. She chuckled as she pictured him walking around tripping on their discarded clothes. When she heard the front door close, she sighed and closed her eyes in an attempt to get more sleep.

* * *

_Francisco searched through his closet to find something resembling a suit and tie. In his near twenty years of life, he's never gone through too much hassle to buy nice clothes in order to make a great first impression, and now he's realized that he should have learned that lesson a long time ago. As he searched through the clothes, he realized that his wardrobe mostly consists of jeans, a pair of dress pants, short-sleeved shirts, a few dress shirts, and his sneakers._

"_I really don't go out to many nice places, do I?" he asked himself. _

_Chuy walked inside and saw his brother frazzled as he kept trying to make combinations from the clothing that he owned._

_The younger brother turned around and asked his older brother, "What do you think? Do you think that I'll need a jacket?" he asked, while holding his nicest button-down shirt and a pair of slacks. _

"_Why are you worrying so much? It's just dinner with you girlfriend's parents. I doubt they care what you wear," Chuy tried to comfort him._

"_They might. They live out in Huntington Oaks, and they're taking us all to Corbett's Lodge…"_

_Chuy whistled, "Okay, maybe a nice suit isn't so out of the question."_

"_Yeah, I know, but I don't have the money for that," Francisco groaned, "Sometimes I wished that dad had a suit that I could borrow."_

_It wouldn't have done Francisco any good considering that the family rarely attended events that would require formalwear, and that he was taller than his dad. _

_Francisco sighed, 'Guess, I'll have to go a little more informal,' he thought._

_Chuy saw the distress in his brother's eyes and offered, "I can lend you some money so that you can get yourself something nice to wear."_

_Francisco shook his head, "I'll be fine."_

"_No you won't. Besides, you can pay me back later when you finish school."_

"_You don't need to do that. I'll figure it out myself."_

_Chuy took out his wallet, and Francisco sighed as he knew that he wasn't going to take no for an answer. The younger brother looked away as his brother handed him the card._

"_C'mon Pancho."_

_Francisco shook his head._

_Chuy handed the card closer to his brother, "You know you need it."_

_He shook his head again._

"_You can keep playing around, but you know that the more time you waste, the less time you have to search for a suit that you won't look silly wearing."_

_Francisco looked at his brother, who had a smile on his face, "Fine, but only to get you to stop."_

"_Sure," the older brother said as he handed over his credit card._

"_Thank you."_

"_You're welcome, now have fun shopping for your new clothes."_

_Francisco looked at the card and walked towards the living room. His mom looked over at him as she heard him mutter under his breath while occasionally tapping his pocket to make sure that he had what he needed._

"_¿A donde vas Pancho?"_

"_Tengo que comprar un traje para mi cita."_

"_¿Quieres que valla contigo?" she offered. _

_Francisco shook his head; the last thing he wanted was for his mother to join him as he went clothes shopping for a date, "Creo que voy estar bien."_

"_Bueno, no mas ten cuidado cuando escoges un traje, no quieres verte encorvado como tu papa."_

_Francisco took note of what she said despite not understanding what she meant when she said 'encorvado'._

* * *

The sun's rays shined into Lynn's room, she tried to shield herself with her blanket, but the sun wasn't going to let up. She opened her eyes, and looked at the empty side of the bed.

"I should have let him stay," she said as she took hold of the pillow that he rested his head on earlier. She was regretting her decision, _'He even offered to stay!'_ Lynn sighed, but she knew him. She knew that he probably would have been looking at the clock, thinking about what his bosses would say about his absence or paranoid that they'll punish him for just taking a personal day, so she kicked him out for his own good.

She smiled as the scent of leather and motor oil overtook her, "Why does he always smell like this?" she groaned, "I hate always being able to sniff him out." She was lying. Even as kids, he could never truly hide from her; not in crowded hallways, not in the cafeteria, not even in gym class, and all because of that scent of his.

Lynn stared up at the ceiling as she recalled the events of the last couple of hours; him just showing up at her front door, her pulling him into her apartment, then her room, then her bed, the serious conversation about how they were going to go forward in their relationship. She smiled at the thought of knowing that he was still interested in them being a couple. Yes, compromises had to be made, but what relationship didn't have some sort of compromise?

Then the memory of how they sealed the deal to become a couple again; his forehead pressed onto her's as they stared into each other's eyes in the darkness with only the moon's light to guide them, running her fingers through his hair, his lips on her skin, her nails lightly teasing his back, and him…Lynn stopped. She couldn't see her cheeks flaring up at how the rest of their night went, but she could feel the warmth.

Reasoning that there was no reason to stay in bed anymore, Lynn walked to the bathroom; she caught a glimpse at the mirror before saying, "Son of a bitch!"

* * *

_Francisco walked through the clothing store. He is surrounded by a variety of jackets, pants, ties, belts, cufflinks, and shoes; all of which confused him as he tried to mentally form a combination that he could pull off._

_He grabbed a suit jacket and put it on before looking at himself in front of the mirror. In his normal street clothes, he looked silly, and he couldn't imagine what he was going to look like when he had the full suit with a dress shirt and tie._

'_Wait a minute…I don't know how to tie a tie…well there's always the internet,' he thought in a effort to perk himself up._

_A salesman spoke up, "Can I help you find something?"_

_A startled Francisco turned around to respond to the salesman, "I'm looking for a suit for a date."_

"_Did you know what style you had in mind?"_

_Francisco shook his head._

"_How about we start with something easy, do you know what color suit you want?"_

"_Not really…I mean, I guess blue would be fine."_

_The salesman directed Francisco towards the back and began to ask questions, "So you mentioned a date? First anniversary?"_

_He shook his head, "No, just that her parents insisted on meeting me."_

_The salesman whistled, "So were you looking for something that you can wear to just formal occasions, or did you want something more versatile?"_

"_B-Both, I guess."_

_The salesman could sense Francisco's anxiety and tried to calm the young man, "I'm assuming that this isn't a black tie event, right? So you can try the blue, although charcoal gray is a classic. Now, do you need a full suit?"_

"_The whole thing – shirt, pants, jacket, shoes and tie."_

_He nodded and took Francisco's measurements, "So have you considered the charcoal gray, or are you still sticking with blue?"_

"_Probably blue," he responded. "But in a more…more…classic style, maybe a white shirt too."_

"_Alright, I'll look for something, while you look at the shoes and ties."_

_He passed through the ties. Now that he had an idea, of what he was going to be wearing, he could pick out something to match. Black shoes struck him as the obvious choice, but the tie gives him more flexibility._

"_Red? Black? Yellow? I can just wait until he returns with everything."_

_The salesman presented Francisco with some clothing options, which he took into the changing room. Francisco looked at himself in the mirror; it was the first time that he's ever seen himself dressed in a suit and he admitted to himself that he looked nice. However, as he looked at the price tag, he began to shake his head. Granted, Chuy offered to pay for the suit, he didn't want to take advantage of his brother's kindness._

_He stepped out of the changing room and told the salesman, "I'm sorry, this is nice, but I don't think I can afford it."_

_Francisco looked at the salesman, who was about to walk away; he spent so much time patiently helping him, that he felt guilty to put all of the work to waste. He didn't need the suit tailored and Francisco assumed that all he had to do was just keep the tags and he should be fine, so long as he didn't sweat and was careful at dinner._

"_You know what," he stopped the man, "I'll take it."_

* * *

Lynn pulled into the driveway of Lucy's new home. After months of searching, she and her fiancé finally found a home that they both liked; it's nice and secluded, but close enough to still see their families, which checked the couple's dream home checklist.

"What took so long?" Lucy asked as she grabbed a box from the moving truck.

"I didn't take that long. After I got some breakfast with Lily and Lucy, I got some gas, and came straight here," Lynn said as she ran to the truck to help her younger sister unload some boxes.

"Lynn, it doesn't take you two hours to do all that," the younger sister looked at Lynn's car, "Did Dutch break down again?" Lynn stayed quiet, "Are you sure that you don't you buy a new car? Anything is better than trying to push it down 13 Mile and causing a traffic jam."

Lynn set down the box, "One time! That happened one time! Look, I'm here now. So do you want my help or are you just going to complain? Cause I can go if you want."

Lucy took her box and walked into the house, "I thought so," said Lynn as she went to the moving truck to see how much was left. "What the…Lucy, when the heck did you and Rocky get started?" she asked out loud.

"Three hours ago, before he got called into the morgue to cover a sick coworker," Lucy said as she snuck up behind her sister.

Lynn jumped a bit after being startled, "Then why the heck are there still so many boxes!? Do you honestly have that many books?" Lynn looked further into the moving truck, "And you still haven't unloaded all this furniture!?" she asked while pointing to a desk, sofa, dining table, and a variety of heavy furniture.

Lucy shrugged her shoulders and grabbed one box to take into the house. Lynn growled at her sister's inefficiency; at the rate she was going, she wasn't going to finish until Monday night, but she refused to let that bring her down, so she pulled up her imaginary sleeves and began stacking boxes to take more per trip.

When the two sisters crossed paths, Lynn would glare at her younger sister. She's giving up a Saturday to help her sister and her fiancé, and she can't even take more than one box; looks like it's up to her to pick up the slack.

She grabbed some boxes and stacked them on top of one another, and quickly ran into the house to set down the boxes before going back to her car. She came prepared and took out her lifting belt, and was ready to move the appliances that were still loaded in the truck. Normally, she would ask for help, but the way Lucy was moving, Lynn knew that she wouldn't get much help and would rather do it on her own.

Lynn positioned herself behind the fridge and pushed until she could no longer. She took a deep breath and continued; not noticing that she passed the kitchen and was pushing the appliance down the hallway.

Lynn continued this with the remaining boxes, and by late afternoon she was beginning to show fatigue. She wiped sweat from her brow, she looked at Lucy, who was still only moving one lightweight box at a time, "Gee, Luce, thanks for the help," she said sarcastically. "I couldn't have done it without you!"

Lucy set her box down, and went to get her older sister a bottle of water, "No one told you move as fast as you did, we aren't being timed, you know."

"Yeah…well I don't move slow, or take my time, or go at a turtle's pace. And thanks to me you were able to get all your things out of the truck before the sun set."

Lucy looked at the haphazard way that Lynn set down the boxes; in her attempts to finish the job quickly, Lynn randomly tossed light boxes wherever she saw fit, and made a game out of how far she could lift heavier boxes down the hallway.

"You're still going to help us put the heavier furniture where it belongs, right?"

Lynn finished chugging the water bottle and wiped the sweat from her face, "Yeah, I did promise to do that."

Lynn took a seat on the couch to catch her breath; they spent the whole afternoon going back and forth from the truck, and she wanted to relax and call it a day, but she also didn't want to come back tomorrow or spend the night just to move furniture; that and Lynn Loud Jr. was no quitter!

"Gasp!" It was the last thing Lynn heard, before Lucy pinned her to the couch.

"What the heck, Luce?" Lynn asked as she struggled to get out of her younger sister's grasp.

Lucy held her down and looked at the marks on Lynn's neck, "Who was the vampire that left those marks on your neck?"

Lynn blushed, "What marks?" she asked, feigning ignorance.

Lucy let go of her sister and took a photo before handing it to Lynn, "Don't lie. Who did that to you?"

"That's none of your business!" she said as she crossed her arms and looked away from her younger sister. Lynn got up, and stomped towards the door, "I'm going home."

"Lynn, you can tell me, you know that, right?"

Lynn turned around and looked up at her little sister, "Right now, there's nothing to say…I'll tell you when I'm good and ready."

Lucy felt the emotion behind her sister's words; it wasn't her usual boastful confidence that she was used to hearing from Lynn, it was timidity. She knew to tread carefully here; if she pushed Lynn too far, she would close off, and won't say a thing. She placed a hand on her older sister's shoulder, "C'mon…I'll help you push the refrigerator."

'_And maybe help you with your makeup,'_ thought Lucy, after noticing the lackluster job Lynn did on her neck.

* * *

_Francisco looked down at his phone as he tried to follow along with the video that was teaching him to tie his tie. The salesman and the video made it look easy, but Francisco couldn't get the hang of it; his brain had an idea of what to do, but his hands didn't want to cooperate. It was _

_The driver and Caroline would occasionally glance at him he frustratingly undid his tie again._

"_Do you want me to help you?" offered Caroline._

"_No, I've got it. Just let me rewind the video again."_

_Three times – that's how many times, he's rewound the video as they were chauffeured to the restaurant. He was proud and didn't want to admit defeat on such a simple task, but Caroline knew that he needs more practice._

"_Francisco, we're almost there. Are you sure that you don't want me to tie it for you?"_

_He conceded and let her do it. He wished that he didn't completely undo the tie when he arrived home from the store, but he wanted to practice and now he felt silly for having Caroline properly tie his tie for him._

_She got closer to him, "Were you working on your brother's truck before we arrived?"_

_Caroline was used to him smelling somewhat like a garage, but she assumed that after seeing himself stressed over looking nice for dinner, he would have made more of an effort to complete the whole package. _

"_I did, but I guess it didn't do me much good."_

_Truthfully, he was afraid of spraying cologne on his clothes and leaving a stain; although sweating through was going to make the return a much more difficult ordeal. I'll just rinse up when I get inside._

_She sighed, "I know that you're nervous, but you'll be fine. My parents are going to like you and you'll eventually forget everything, I promise."_

_He smiled. Most the stress over the last few days was self-inflicted, but he couldn't help it; he never worked so hard to impress someone and he's never met anyone's parents in such a setting. His previous dates were girls from school, but he knew them, and their parents usually weren't wealthy; Caroline and her family on the other hand are different than all those other girls._

_The driver stopped in front of the front door, and the couple exited the car._

_As the two walked into the restaurant, she turned to him, "You are going to be okay. I promise."_

_Francisco looked up at the ceiling and all the decorations in the restaurant; it was like nothing he's ever seen before. His usual outings to restaurants were casual so it felt as if his breath was taken away as he looked at the view, the pianist playing classical music, the warm but somewhat private ambiance; it made him feel out of place._

"_Caroline," the couple heard from an older gentleman sitting a table with two other women._

_The couple walked towards the man, and with each step Francisco could feel his throat tightening as he approached the family._

* * *

Lynn took a deep breath, and looked at herself in the mirror; she wasn't used to seeing herself in a dress or with makeup on, unless it was a special family occasion, "It's not a family occasion, but it's still a special moment," Lynn said to psych herself up.

She was happy that Lucy was willing to help her learn how to apply makeup, but she felt robbed of her confidence when she presented herself in such a feminine way. Despite being alone in the apartment, she felt that as soon as she stepped outside, eyes would lock in on her and she would be talked about in ways that she wouldn't appreciate.

All Francisco told her was that they were going to a nice restaurant, which could mean anything depending on whose definition they took. "A nice restaurant…easy! Just don't burp or expect food I can eat with my hands, don't yell or make a scene, follow church rules and I should be good."

She heard a knock at the door, and her heart began to race. She is nervous. Even after knowing each other for so many years, the thought of him seeing her dolled up in makeup and nice clothes worried her.

She opened the door, and saw him, "Hey…you look nice," she complimented.

"You look nice too, beautiful really," he retuned before leaning down to give her a kiss.

Lynn isn't used to receiving attention on her appearance, but at least after hearing him say that she looked beautiful got took some of the pressure that she placed on herself off.

"Are you ready to go?"

"Yeah, let me just get my purse."

The two walked towards his truck, and Lynn noticed that the truck was much cleaner looking than he normally had it, even when they stepped in she noticed the fresh scent and the shiny interior.

"You really are trying to woo me, aren't you?" she teased.

"Is it working?"

"Maybe, so you never told me where we were going?"

"I thought that it would be more fun to surprise you," he said, slightly teasing her.

"Really? You don't want to tell me? I don't mind, ruin the surprise."

"No, I'd rather keep you in suspense."

Lynn began to list a variety of nearby restaurants that she would consider 'nice', but he kept shooting down each one. As Francisco pulled into the parking lot, Lynn's mouth opened in surprise, "Corbett's Lodge? Are you serious? I mean, not that I don't mind, but I don't want you to make such a big deal out of my birthday or something. Maybe we can go somewhere, you know," she hinted at him to finish her sentence.

Corbett's Lodge, from what Lynn heard, is a popular five star restaurant frequented by wealthy patrons in the Michigan area. He had to be kidding. It's definitely a nice restaurant, but never the sort of place that Lynn would picture herself even being at unless she suddenly became a millionaire.

"It's fine! Money isn't a problem. Don't think that I can't afford this place just because I work some lowbrow job or can talk to the dishwashers," he said loudly, surprising Lynn with his sudden outburst. "I'm sorry. I don't know where that came from."

"Its fine…but what was that about?"

Francisco shook his head, "It's not important, right now," he said as he parked the truck.

* * *

'_So far, so good,' thought Francisco as he took a bite of his steak._

_For most of the night, Caroline's parents were mostly catching up with her and had only asked him if he was enjoying himself. He was happy that the attention wasn't on him, but he knew that it was only a matter of time before they would ask him some questions._

"_Francisco, I feel like I've taken up the conversation all night, I want to know a bit about you," Jacob said as he took a sip of his whiskey. "Caroline mentioned that you're studying engineering."_

"_Right…Right…my brothers and I used to tinker around with our family car and fixing things when we were younger, so it seemed like a good fit."_

"_Engineering, huh? _

_Francisco nervously nodded; not noticing Caroline's younger sister eyes rolling._

"_That's rather impressive," Elizabeth complimented. "I've met a lot of smart young people who_

_Jacob spoke up, "So was your father an engineer too?"_

"_Dad," Caroline said in a quiet, but reprimanding tone. _

"_I'm sorry, it slipped out," he responded._

_Francisco shook his head, "It's fine. I mean, some time has passed," he took a deep breath. "No, my dad wasn't an engineer. He worked in the plants in the city, but he was definitely no engineer."_

_He took another bite of his steak, and tried to ignore heaviness in the air. He didn't want to talk about his family, at least not at the moment. After hearing about her picture-perfect family, he knew that all he would do is bring them down if continued to talk about his own._

"_So," Francisco started as he turned towards Elizabeth, "Caroline mentioned you volunteer with a charity. What's that like?"_

_The family began to talk again; ignoring the slight tension that arose from Jacob mentioning Francisco's dad._

_Away from everyone's view, Caroline took Francisco's hand and gave him a soft smile. When no one noticed, she silently whispered, 'I'm sorry'._

'_It's fine,' he returned._

_He knew that it was reflex, and he knew that Caroline probably told her parents to not mention his dad, but he isn't going to hold it against anybody for a tiny verbal slip._

_Francisco took another bite of his steak, but some sauce dripped onto his tie. He took a deep breath, "I guess someone was really craving that bite," he joked. _

_Jacob and Elizabeth laughed, and Francisco excused himself to the washroom to wash out the stain._

"_I'm going to go make sure he's okay," Caroline said as she excused herself. She caught up to Francisco before he entered the men's room. "I am so sorry about that. I told them not to bring up your dad and he still did it."_

"_Its fine, it happens. I mean, I'm sure that they've probably asked that before and it's a reflex at this point. Besides, I knew that it would probably come, I'm not upset, okay."_

* * *

Lynn opened the menu, and was shocked by the prices, _'Holy crap…I get the caviar being expensive, but the salads too!? Be real guys, vegetables shouldn't cost so damn much.'_ She looked up from the menu and stared at Francisco. She hoped that he would realize that this was too much and just say that they should go somewhere else.

"What the heck is good at a place like this?" Lynn asked herself quietly.

"This place is mostly known for their steaks and wild game meats, I thought you would like it," he responded after hearing her.

He was right, she would like a place that specialized in proteins from the safe and simple chicken to the more gamey caribou and even those disgusting fish eggs; at least it gave her options. She focused her eyes on the menu again. Lynn couldn't bring herself to order anything off of the menu, but this was a once in a lifetime opportunity, after all, a five star restaurant isn't exactly somewhere that she gets to eat at often.

'_I guess, I could order chicken, but I can get chicken anywhere. And what the heck do these guys do that justifies forty dollars on a meal? Bathe a living chicken in wine? Massage it all its life? Did they capture a time-traveling chicken and breed it? And what about the sides? Fifteen dollar mac and cheese!? I don't care if you add lobster, that's just highway robbery!'_

The waiter walked up to the two, "Good evening. I'll be your waiter this evening. May I interest you both in a bottle of wine from our private collection? We have a fine selection of red and wines, as well as some champagne and sparkling wine."

Francisco shook his head, "I'll just take a water, flat."

The waiter turned to Lynn, "Same."

"Water…" the waiter scoffed as he turned around, "Big spenders tonight I see." He said to the two as he walked away.

Neither one said anything while he was within earshot, but their eyes told the other that what they were thinking about the man that just took their orders.

"Well he's a freaking ray of sunshine," Lynn remarked as she rolled her eyes.

Francisco smirked, and held back a laugh. "Tell me about it. He could have at least waited until we couldn't hear him."

"I know. At least we're courteous," Lynn set down her menu, "Alright, I have no idea what to get here."

"Well just the description, I'm sure that–"

"You know dang well what I mean," she interrupted.

He sighed and sternly reminded her, "I told you that money isn't an issue. I can pay for it."

Lynn raised an eyebrow, "Really? You have no issues with me ordering anything off of this menu?"

He shook his head.

"Even if I order one of everything and only take one bite and have everything thrown away?"

"Just be realistic," he said as he looked down on his menu.

She silently sighed as she looked at the menu again. No matter what he said, she couldn't bring herself to let him spend a ridiculous amount of money on her. He has a daughter and bills and plenty of more important things to spend his money on than some date.

'_This is what I get for trying too hard on his birthday.'_

When the water returned with their water, the couple gave him their orders

She asked, "No appetizer?"

"When have I ever ordered one?"

"Fair enough."

The tables around them had couples talking as they sat quietly and listened to the pianist play a soft song for the patrons. Neither one was sure of what to say, despite dining at the restaurant once before, Francisco still doesn't feel comfortable, and he can only imagine that Lynn was probably not faring any better as she tapped her fingers on the table.

Lynn spoke up, "You are definitely making a good first date impression," she commented.

"Thanks. I was hoping that you would like it."

"Can I ask you something, why did you pick this place?"

"I thought that you deserved to go somewhere extraordinary after our rough start, but also to make up for not being there for your birthday and for being a bit immature and avoiding you for this time."

She felt guilty. She knew that she was also avoiding him and made things worse as well, but he was going through a lot of trouble to make it up to her and she was going to appreciate it and make it up to him one day.

"Thank you."

* * *

_As the night drew to a close and dessert was served, Francisco looked at his watch and noticed the late hour, "I should get going. I told my family that I would be home before it got too late out. Mr. and Mrs. Aldrich, it was a pleasure to meet you, and I hope that we can do this again sometime."_

_Jacob got up and extended his hand out, "It was nice meeting you this evening, Francisco."_

"_N-Nice to meet you too," he replied, as he shook the older man's hand._

_Jacob noticed the tag sticking out by Francisco's wrist, but kept up his smile as his daughter and her date left the restaurant._

_Francisco took a deep breath, "It's nice to be able to breathe again."_

_She giggled, "Should I be worried?"_

"_No," he shook his head, "I just felt like I didn't belong in there. Not that it was anybody's fault," he assured her, "I just think that this regular guy needed some time before he's completely used to a more luxurious place."_

_She placed her hand on his cheek and smiled, "I know it's hard, but my parents liked you. Before you know it, you won't feel as nervous being with me and my family."_

_He smiled, "I hope so."_

_Francisco's ride pulled up in front of the couple, and he gave her a kiss, "Just so you know, I had a great night."_

"_I'm glad. I'll see you at your place for Christmas Eve?"_

"_Of course," he said before getting in the car._

* * *

"So what did you think about birthday dinner?" he asked as they walked up to her front door.

"I _think_ that you went to too much trouble. I mean seriously, a five star restaurant!? When have you known me to ever be impressed by all the fancy-schmancy rich people stuff?"

He shrugged his shoulders, "Maybe I wanted to treat my date right by making a great impression. Besides you can make it up to me on my birthday. I want to try the elk next time, maybe caribou."

Lynn snorted, "For your birthday, I could probably buy you a boat and sail around the state for less money."

He snickered, "Well a boat would be nice too, maybe a fishing boat or a pontoon to dock at my lakeside cabin up north."

"Wow! A cabin? Are you telling me that we could have actually hunted out food and cooked it over an open fire instead of settling for sitting down in a stuffy restaurant? I mean how much fresher can you get?"

"You didn't like it?"

She looked away from him, "That's not what I meant. I just felt out of place there. Do you understand?"

He nodded, "I get it. Maybe next time we'll go somewhere more reasonable. What do you say?"

"Yeah, I'd like that," she said as she pulled him down for a kiss.

"Wh-What are you doing!?" he asked as he lightly pushed her away her lips on his neck.

She snickered before opening the door, "I'm paying you back. Don't worry, it doesn't hurt." He looked away from her as she giggled, "Oh c'mon, I didn't make a big fuss to you for last week, so don't complain. Anyway, do you want to come in?"

"F-For a nightcap or the…"

"I don't know. Did you bring your lucky half dollar this time?"

He stood there stunned at her sudden gesture. His hand instinctively rested on the spot where Lynn kissed him, and he felt a little flustered.

When he didn't respond, Lynn took the hint, "It's okay, besides I don't think that we want a repeat of last week. Good night," she told him before walking into her apartment. "By the way, I had a great time."

As the door closed, he said out loud to himself, "Repeat? I was the one in a vice grip."


	11. Independence and Vulnerability

Francisco took a deep breath, when Lynn invited him to her apartment to hang out, he expected a night of watching baseball or chatting, instead she blindsided him by announcing her true intentions for the evening; telling someone about them. It has only been a few days since they rekindled their relationship, and while they agreed to be more open about it, neither one made much effort to tell anyone that they knew personally.

"Why are you freaking out, Francisco? It's not like it'll be a big deal or anything," asked Lynn as she logged into her SpaceChat account.

"I know that, but I haven't talked to her in so long. I mean, what has Margo been up to since I last spoke to her at the airport?" he asked.

"She went to college, got married, and she had a baby; see nothing too crazy," Lynn said as she pressed the call button on the laptop.

"Gee Lynn, way to summarize someone's life in eleven words…"

"You make it sound like it's a bad thing. I bet I can do the same for you," Lynn exclaimed as she silently tried to come up with a way to summarize his life as briefly as she did Margo's, "I got it! College, baseball team, off team, dropped out, baby, job, us dating. See! And all in eleven words!" Lynn stuck out her tongue.

"About time y'all started dating," Margo said from the screen.

The couple looked at the screen, embarrassed to see their friend looking at them. "Hey Margo," they said simultaneously.

"How much of that did you hear?" asked Francisco.

"It started around the time Lynn said, 'I got it', so thank you Lynn for filling me in on Francisco's life…?" she said, not entirely sure if that was an appropriate thing to thank someone for.

"You're welcome. So how are you feeling? Wait, you never told me – did you have a boy or a girl?"

Margo groaned, "I'm tired. Nicholas keeps waking up at random hours of the night, which I should have known, especially since Tom kept trying to simulate what it would be like when the baby got here, but I don't think that any of it helped."

"Tom?" he asked Lynn.

"Her husband," she responded. "C'mon Francisco! It's not that hard to figure out."

"Well excuse me, but someone didn't mention it in the summary!"

"Fine, I'll add change the words – College, graduation, work, Tom, engaged, married, honeymoon, baby after three years. Happy?"

"And yet still in eleven words…" complained Francisco.

He saw the spark in Lynn's eye and her balled up fist, and he knew what she was about to do, "Give me a bruise and I'm returning the favor."

She still hit him. She waved her arm in from of him, "Well? I'm waiting."

"How about when there are no witnesses?"

Margo laughed; this was sort of how she pictured the two of them in her imagination. For years, she wanted them to at least try, but neither one was willing to take the plunge and say that they were interested to the other. Now, as the two are playfully bickering to one another on her screen, she wonders what things would have been like had they taken that leap of faith all those years ago when they were in high school.

"Lynn never mentioned dating anyone, so how long have you two been together?"

"A couple of months, but to be honest, I sort of told Lynn to keep it between us."

Margo turned to Lynn, and pretended to be upset, "I'm hurt, you couldn't even tell your best friend that you were dating someone?"

"He kept going on and on about not telling anyone! This is what I get for being thoughtful and listening to my boyfriend," Lynn complained, crossing her arms in a huff.

Francisco and Margo laughed, before Lynn joined in.

Lynn placed her hand on her heart, "Alright, alright, no more secrets, unless it's a surprise party or something like that."

"Deal," Margo and Francisco declared.

Lynn was about to spit on her hand to declare it official, but Francisco immediately took her hand, "I think we've outgrown that tradition, don't you think?"

"I won't believe it, until I see it," Margo declared.

Crying from Margo's son, interrupted the group chat, and they decided to end the call.

"Alright, I guess I'll see you next month, okay Margo?"

She smiled, "I can't wait to see you in person again, and Francisco, it was nice seeing you again."

"It was nice seeing you, too."

Lynn closed the laptop, and turned to Francisco, "There, that was easy."

"Of course it was easy; Margo has wanted us to date since we were kids, _and_ she lives in another state."

"You just can't be happy, can you?" Lynn jokingly complained. "Take a dang victory where you can get one."

"Alright then," he leaned in and surprised her with a kiss. "I believe that's a win for me."

* * *

_Francisco tossed and turned in bed; he is alone, no girlfriend, no daughter, they're both gone. He has his mom and brother in the house, but he couldn't stand the looks they gave him; it isn't anger or sadness, just disappointment._

_He grabbed him phone and checked the websites that he had saved over the last couple of months. After hearing Caroline's words and seeing how his family was treating him, he had to get out of the house and start over again. For months, he had searched through websites in hopes of finding a place for himself, girlfriend, and daughter, but recently that search dwindled down to just a place for him and hopefully his daughter._

_He wanted to find something comfortable that could accommodate him and Elena, a room for both for each of them, a guest room, and a large backyard or something out of the typical suburban dream. Unfortunately, most of the available houses were out of his price range._

_He continued to search through websites, looking for something that fit his ideal home, but he knew that with his limited budget, a real house was not going to be easy; he just hoped for something that he could live in, in peace._

"_Good neighborhoods, Royal Woods area," he said as he typed into the search engine._

_Francisco didn't want to stray too far from the area, especially when he has a good-paying job and Elena nearby._

_He stared at the screen, there wasn't much of a difference in the results, and he was growing desperate as the weeks passed. Francisco continued to scroll through the results and he fixed his eyes on a foreclosed property that isn't too far from his work. He's seen the listing before, but with only an exterior picture to go off of, he was concerned._

"_I guess there's nothing wrong with touring the house," he said in an effort to convince himself._

_He emailed the realtor to schedule a tour and set his phone down. He took a deep breath and tried to calm his heart as he thought about what he was doing._

_That morning, with little sleep to go on, Francisco dragged himself through his morning routine before work._

_As he walked through the kitchen, he heard his mother say, "Te puse tu desayuno ensigida de tu lonchera."_

"_Gracias," he yawned._

_He looked at his breakfast and bit into the breakfast taco; as much as he appreciates his mother, doing such things for him and his brother, he still needed to get out._

_Chuy walked towards him and grab his lunchbox, "Ready to go?"_

_Francisco nodded._

"_Did you take your medicine?"_

"_Yes," Francisco flatly said._

_Chuy looked at his brother, who seemed rather irritated, "Are you okay?"_

"_I'm fine," Francisco responded. "I'm just tired. I didn't sleep well last night."_

_The two brothers walked towards the truck, and immediately after pulling out of the driveway, Chuy asked, "How come you didn't sleep well last night?"_

_This isn't how he wanted to tell his brother, but Francisco wanted to get his thoughts out in the open, "I'm looking for a place so that I can move out."_

"_Excuse me?" Chuy asked, surprised by his brother's declaration._

"_I'm moving out. I need my own space to breathe without worrying about you or mom checking on me like I'm a child."_

"_Gee, I wonder why we have to do that?" Chuy sarcastically asked himself._

_Francisco shook his head, "Look, I get it, it's not ideal, especially since we carpool, but I need…something."_

_Through his teeth, Chuy responded, "Look, I get that things have been rough, but you need to start getting over all of this. I don't care if you need to talk to someone else, but you're being ridiculous. Besides, don't you have a daughter you need to take care of? I doubt spending your money on a place of your own is going to smooth things over with Caroline."_

_Francisco huffed and didn't answer as he looked out the window. _

_Chuy regretted his words, "Look, I didn't mean to go there, but–"_

_Francisco raised his hand to stop him, "Don't. I don't want to talk about it and I just want to sit in silence right now."_

* * *

The hot summer sun beat down on Francisco as he took a drink from his pop and looked at the oil inside of the wok.

"Pancho! Do you want me to chop up all the tortillas or do you want me to leave some!?" asked Chuy from the kitchen.

"Just chop them all up!"

Chuy continued to chop the remaining tortillas in fours and placing them in a large bowl. Elena passed and looked at her uncle, "Do you need any help, Tío?"

The older man shook his head, "Not yet, but when I finish, can you take these to your dad so he can fry these up? I don't feel like making so many trips."

She nodded. It was the Fourth of July, tomorrow, but Francisco decided that they could celebrate the day before together before she went back to her mother. Unlike Caroline's family's celebrations, Francisco's festivities were a little more close knit with just his brother, or brothers depending on where Kiké was, his mother, his neighbor Jackson; which made it different compared to Elena celebrating with cousins and other family members at her grandfather's cabin.

Chuy finished chopping the tortillas and handed the bowl to his niece, "Can you take that to your dad? I gotta get the chicken out of the fridge."

The two walked outside where the summer heat greeted them as soon as they opened the door. Francisco took the bowl from Elena and handed her a pop. He tossed some of the chopped tortillas into the wok to begin on the appetizers.

"I'll be right back, I'm going to go get the speaker from my truck," Chuy said, as he set down the chicken on the table.

Elena looked at her dad with dread, "Is he going to play his music again?"

"Unfortunately…look, you can go inside to avoid it, if you want. I'll call you when the food is ready."

She was tempted to take him upon his offer, but this was one of those few moments that she got to spend with her dad, and no amount of old ranchera music was going to keep her from having a few extra hours with him…she hoped.

"If it gets too loud just let me know, he'll turn it down if he thinks it bothers you," Francisco reassured her.

It wasn't the volume that bothered her, it was the repetitive songs. They all seemed to have the same tune; one time she recalled listening to four songs that she thought was one very long song. Although compared to her dad, she had it easy; he's been listening to those same songs since he was a boy and his father and older brother would play them for every barbeque growing up. Luckily, her uncle was always nice enough to take her feelings into consideration, which made her feel guilty about cutting his good time short.

Chuy brought out the speaker, "Where's the extension cord, Pancho?"

"In the garage," Francisco said as he took out the first of the freshly fried tortilla chips.

"I'll get it," Elena volunteered.

As she ran into the garage, Chuy took the opportunity to help himself to some of the chips.

"I got the cord," Elena said before she handed it off to her uncle.

"Oh God! Is he going to be playing that music again?" said a male voice from the entrance to the backyard.

The three turned to Kiké and the family matriarch standing next to him. The brothers went to greet her and get her a seat.

"Abuelita!" Elena said, before running up to her grandmother to give her a hug.

"¿Como estas mija?" she asked her granddaughter.

"Geez! Not even happy to see me? And here I wasted my time getting his hat for you." Kiké said, pretending to be upset at his niece's actions.

He handed Elena a red and white beanie, "Why does it say 'Canada' on it?" she asked him, as she read the hat.

"I was in visiting a friend up there and he asked me to hang out on Friday, one thing led to another, and next thing I know, I'm celebrating Canada Day before I remember that I have my cute little niece that I'm gonna see."

Neither brother believed Kiké, "Did you swipe that off of another Canadian like you did last year?" Francisco asked, with disapproval in his tone.

"I resent that. He was kind enough to give it to me."

"Before or after he took advantage of him being drunk?" Francisco quietly joked with his eldest brother.

The two brothers laughed, until Kiké walked by the two, and asked Francisco, "So where should I put my laundry?"

The younger brother groaned, "Same place as usual."

Chuy shook his head in disappointment at his younger brothers. As Kiké went to get his things, "By the way, I brought us one more thing, fireworks!" he said with glee.

Before looking at his brother's explosive loot, Francisco yelled out to his neighbor, "Jackson! Get your hose ready! Kiké has fireworks again!"

Francisco's neighbor ran out of the house, ready with a hose and water guns. After last year's incident, no one would blame Jackson for being extra cautious; after all, no one likes the idea of having to call the fire department, because someone decided to play with fireworks while drinking.

"Oh c'mon! It wasn't that bad!" Kiké complained.

"Not that bad? I had half a mind to send you to court after the damages done last year!" Jackson argued back as he filled the large water guns.

Last Fourth of July, Kiké got overly excited with the fireworks, which coupled with alcohol, made the man set off too many fireworks and cause a small fire to Jackson's house. Luckily for the man, Jackson was kind enough to not press charges against Kiké, despite Francisco insisting that it wouldn't affect their friendship. Understandably, Jackson has been cautious whenever Francisco's older brother would show up or get intoxicated.

Jackson took a seat next to Alicia, "Buenas tardes, Alicia."

"Buenas tardes, Jackson," she returned. "Pido desculpas por cualquier molesta que mi hijo pueda haberte causado," she apologized to the man.

"De nada, afortunadamente, tu hijo menor compensa más las molestias de tu segundo hijo."

Elena looked at the man, surprised, "You speak Spanish, Jackson?"

"Oh, I once spent a few years teaching English in rural South America when I was younger, oh, the places I've seen," he looked Elena in the eye, "Never stop learning and never stop exploring, you never know where you'll end up."

The girl nodded at the advice the man gave her.

"What the heck haven't you done?" asked Francisco, who was surprised by another job that his neighbor listed to have experience in.

"Olympian," responded Jackson, "I broke my knee just before the tryouts and while I was recovering I moved onto robotics."

"Wait," the girl interrupted him, "So that's the only job that you've never done?"

Everyone was rather surprised at the thought of Jackson in a variety of different fields, presumably due to boredom.

The older man nodded, "If I'm correct. Just call me Jackson-of-all-trades," he said in jest.

Francisco smiled, "And I thank you for your many years of random service in and well outside the Detroit metro area."

* * *

_Francisco pulled into the driveway of the house. After searching for days, he found a house in a nice neighborhood that was also in his price range, but upon seeing the front of the house, he could see why it was listed as cheaply as it was. Aside from the recently mowed front lawn, paint was chipping, the roof needed to be reshingled, the windows were filthy, porch light was smashed, and that was just what he could see from the driver's seat. _

"_Just a few cosmetic issues," he told himself in an effort to comfort himself._

_When he searched online, there was only one picture online for the property, which already raised alarms, but a few repairs shouldn't be of too much concern. He stepped out of the car and walked towards the front door of what could potentially be his first home._

_The realtor pulled in beside him, and greeted him, "Nice to meet you."_

_She opened the door of the house. Dust flew into the air and the two coughed; the house has a musty smell, the floorboards are rotting underneath them, drywall was missing and exposing the frames, and cockroaches were crawling around on the floor. _

"_As you can see, it really is a handyman's dream," the realtor said in an effort to convince Francisco._

_He knows what she's doing; they both know that the house looks more like a deathtrap than a place that anyone would want to live in, but it's her job to sell a house no matter the condition. The two continued their tour of the house, but Francisco became more and more disinterested with each door they opened._

_Holes, trash, and exposed wires were not what he had in mind when looking for a place to live, but the house has plenty of space and would cost him less than if he rented an apartment. _

_The realtor locked the door, "I hope that this tour helped clear up any questions that you may have had about the property."_

_He nodded, "I'll keep in touch. Thank you, by the way…for the tour…and whatnot." _

_The realtor smiled, "You're welcome, and let me know if you have any questions about the area or if you are interested in looking at other properties," she told him before getting in her car and driving away from the house._

_Francisco stayed put and looked at the house as he tried to determine if buying the cheap home outweighed the cost of labor and man-hours that he would have to devote to make it acceptable._

_An older man walked out of the front door and saw the young man staring at the empty house, "Are you thinking about buying that house?"_

_Francisco snapped from his thoughts and answered the man, "Yeah, but I'm not sure if it's worth the hassle. I work a lot and won't have much time to fix it, but at least it has what I need."_

_The man nodded, "I guess it's not surprising considering that the previous owners were rather negligent in their home maintenance duties."_

"_You knew the previous neighbors?"_

"_Not personally. I do remember that they would be awake that some rather odd hours and I would hear fighting from time to time."_

_It is a long list of things that need to be repaired, before it is even livable, but he figures that he can probably make it work for himself temporarily, until he can mention the idea to Caroline._

_The older man looked at the potential neighbor, he seemed like a nice boy who just wanted to have a place for himself, "You know, if you're concerned about getting the work done or just getting some tools, I used to do some work as a carpenter and I have a lot of tools that I would be willing to let you borrow."_

_Francisco was surprised by the man's generosity, "I-I don't want to be a burden, and I'm not even sure if this will be the right move. I mean, I'm just one man right now, do I really need three bedrooms?"_

"_Oh, it's no trouble. I offered the previous neighbors, but they never took me up on my offer, so it's nothing new. However, as I said before, if you need any help with repairs, I'm right here."_

_Francisco was a little suspicious of the man's generosity, but he nodded, "I'll think about it."_

* * *

Francisco took a seat in the driver's seat and asked Lynn, "Do you want to head into the city or do you know of a better place to see the fireworks?"

She shook her head. Everything online looked the same, so none of the gatherings looked interesting, "How willing are you to drive to Ann Arbor?" she asked, even though she was sure that he would reject the idea.

"How about some place closer to home?"

"Fine," she said as she tapped her fingers on her lap.

She didn't have an idea of where to go. No matter where she picked it was going to be crowded, but they had to make due and find someplace before the sun set.

"How about you go drive and I'll tell you what direction to go in?"

"No! I don't want you to lead me to somewhere in the middle of nowhere."

"When have I done that!?" She turned around to see Francisco staring at her in the eye, "Alright one time, but we were sixteen!"

"And I ran out of gas without one of those gas cans. We were lucky that we were only a few miles away from a gas station; I can't push this truck like I used to."

Francisco saw that Lynn wanted to give her little plan another shot, so he pulled out his phone, turned on his truck and took a photo of the odometer, "I'm willing to go sixty miles in any direction, give or take ten miles if we're close to something good. We take turns deciding–"

"I remember the rules. C'mon! Let's go!" she happily said as Francisco pulled out of the driveway.

It was a simple way to venture randomly – any time the vehicle comes to a stop, someone picks a direction, they drive until the next stop, then another person does picks a direction, and continue until something of interest appears.

Francisco pulled to a stop, "Which way?"

"Right."

Francisco drove. For half an hour, the two drove hoping to find some sort of sign that would point them in the direction of a fireworks show, a concert, or even a restaurant with a great deal.

"Look!" Lynn points to a poster on a telephone pole, "There's a fireworks show by Lake Eddy, let's go do that."

Francisco chucked, "Alright, let's go."

Despite the one poster that the couple saw, the lake was crowded with families who were setting up picnics and enjoying time on the lake before the big fireworks display at dusk.

As soon as he pulled into the parking spot, Lynn jumped out and stretched, "Race you to the lake!"

"No, I want to relax and enjoy myself, not bump into running children."

" Fine, do you want to rent a boat to get out on the lake?" asked Lynn, as she pointed out a rental stand.

"I gu–"

Lynn didn't hear him out, before she ran towards the stand, _'He'll catch up.'_

The rental attendant greeted her, "Hello, how–"

"Hi! Get me something fast and with some power under the hood," she happily said as she bounced back and forth, ready to hit the water.

The man handed her a safety manual for operating the boat and she began to read it, before losing interest from reading the lengthy paragraphs and handing it back to the rental attendant, "Ma'am, did you understand everything in the manual?"

"Yeah, yeah, no drinking, no crashing, and return the boat in piece, does that sound about right?"

It did, but he wanted to make sure that Lynn understood what she was responsible for before he hands her a rental contract, which she immediately signed. The attendant checked the paperwork before inputting the information on the computer and giving her a set of keys.

Francisco caught up to her, "You could've at least let me finish, and maybe not run so far ahead."

"But there aren't many boats to choose from, and I wanted to get one before someone else beat us to it. C'mon! Let's get out on the lake!" she happily proclaimed, as she took his hand and lead him to the boat.

"Aren't there lifejackets?"

Lynn looked back at the stand, and noticed that she forgot to take them from the rental attendant, "You can swim, why do you need one?"

"Safety, desire to live, and because that sign on the stand says that we have to take the life jackets," he said, pointing out the large sign that Lynn seemed to have ignored.

"Fine!" she groaned before stomping back to get the equipment. She tossed him his life jacket, "Happy?"

"Yes," he playfully responded.

Lynn turned on the boat and sped a good distance from shore. The splashing water hit her, "This sort of makes you feel alive, huh?"

"I guess," Francisco said nervously as he held on tightly to his seat.

Lynn stopped the boat, "See, this is nice, a gentle rocking for you, people to watch, again for you, an opportunity to jump in the water without worrying about someone else's kid getting in the way for me, and far enough to not go deaf from the concert, also for me."

Francisco tried to regain his balance, "Is this why you wanted a speedboat? To get away from people?"

"No, privacy is nice sometimes, especially since you like it so much, but maybe we can water ski in a bit!"

"How about we save that for a little later."

"But the sun is going to set in less than two hours, when else we would be able to enjoy waterskiing?"

He shook his head at her playfully whining. This was the sort of fun that he liked about her, the choices game used to drive to new places, the sparkling in her eyes as she thought about waterskiing, and even her consideration for him/

"Alright, we can go waterskiing, but let's enjoy the rocking for a little longer."

She took a seat next to him and rested her head on his shoulder, "Alright, but then we can have a little more fun?"

"Yes. I promise."

He knows that sitting around isn't her speed. He knows that she would much rather be moving around doing something, especially as he listens to her foot tapping rapidly. He looks down at her eyes and sees them staring in the direction of the rental stand; likely wishing to go and get the water ski equipment.

"Are you okay?" he asked.

"Yeah, why?"

"You keep tapping your leg, and I'm just wondering if you're nervous or something?"

She shook her head, "No, I just want to move around a little more. It feels like the boat is getting smaller."

"Okay, go ahead and move a little; jump in the water, you know that you don't have to stay next to me."

She moved to the seat across from him and began to rock the boat a bit.

"That's not what I meant by move a little," he said with a somewhat nervous tone in his voice.

The sound of music caught their attention as a band began to perform. Despite their distance from the shore, the two could hear the music clearly.

"Now, I'm happy that you got the boat," Francisco said.

He wasn't like her; growing up, she had chaos with ten other siblings, but he grew up with two older brothers who had a sizeable age gap from him, so loud and rambunctious wasn't something that he was comfortable with.

Lynn whined, "So now you don't want to go to shore? How are we gonna go waterskiing?"

"We can still go, I just said that I'm happy to be far from the crowd and music. If you want to go waterskiing, that's fine, let's go!" he said, before taking the wheel and driving the boat back to shore to retrieve the additional equipment.

As their boat approached the shore, Lynn jumped off and ran to

"There she goes again; leaving me behind," he told him before chuckling.

Lynn returned to him, and kicked the ground, "They aren't renting any more water skis. Can you believe that?"

"Is it because the music started or he ran out or because he saw how fast you were going and thought that you would hurt someone or because the sun is going to set shortly?"

"I don't know, once he said no, I just walked away."

He rolled his eyes, "Do you want to go back on the water? We'll have the best view of the fireworks," he said in an effort to make her forget about the failed waterskiing opportunity.

She smiled, "Alright, but I'm forcing you into the water!" she said as she took a seat in front of the wheel.

"What is your obsession with getting into the water?"

"I don't know, its summer, hot sun, cool water, water sports, and I haven't raced you in a while."

That was it.

They don't race outside in the winter, and due to their break, they didn't see each other for most of spring, and while summer just started less than two weeks ago, Lynn appeared to be itching to get in the water with him again.

"Well not today," he said, before taking a seat.

"What? Why?"

"Because I look stupid swimming competitively swimming in a life jacket."

Lynn turned on the boat, "Then take it off!"

"No, I just want to relax, besides it's a holiday."

"You relaxed yesterday, let's have more fun today!"

"Fine, I'll get in the water, but no racing, I want to enjoy my day off from work."

Lynn stopped the boat and took off her lifejacket before she jumped in the water, "Are you serious?" he asked.

She emerged from the water, "What did you say?"

"Never mind," he said before turning off the boat and jumping into the water.

"See! Is this so bad?"

He sighed, "I never said that it was bad, but I know you, and I also know that you're going to do something reckless just to get a rise out of me."

She began to swim around him, "You don't know that."

"I think Lincoln begs to differ," he reminded her.

Lynn rolled her eyes. She knows what he's talking about; she and her friends went to the beach, but dad insisted on Luan and Lincoln tagging along.

"And I'm telling you that it wasn't my fault," she said before taking a deep breath and going underwater.

Francisco shook his head and took off his jacket to make sure that she didn't try to pull something. He knows that when Lynn gets comfortable, she gets playful, and unfortunately for those that she's comfortable with, playful can easily become painful.

He saw her swim with a goofy smile on her face before going back up to the surface. As soon as he emerged from the water, Lynn blew a raspberry, "See, nothing happened."

He took a deep breath and submerged himself underwater once again, before pulling on her leg. Immediately after feeling someone grab her, she kicked as hard as she could and he let go.

"Serves you right."

Francisco rose up to the surface with his hand held onto his nose, "I know that I surprised you, but you didn't have to kick me so hard."

"Yeah…well maybe next time don't try to sneak up on me like that."

She climbed back onto the boat and helped him get back in. The sky above them began to turn a bright orange, the musicians stopped playing and the crowds of people began to get quiet.

Lynn pointed to the shore, "Look! They're about to start the fireworks show!"

* * *

_Francisco turned around as the alarm clock woke him up. It's Sunday, and after spending hours with his neighbor fixing Elena's future room, he was still exhausted, "I guess I can sleep in…what's a few…hours? Yes, hours."_

_Yesterday, he exhausted himself to get as much work done as possible, from trash removal to removing loose drywall, pest control, and fixing the roof, but the pain is worth it. _

_In the afternoon hours, Francisco heard a knocking from the front door. He checked his watch, "Dang…it's almost noon." He attempts to get up from bed, but immediately a sharp pain begins to radiate from his lower back._

_Francisco bites down on his lower lip and powers through as he drags his feet to the door. With each dragging motion, he feels his heart pounding rapidly and his lungs feel as though they are running out of air. He finally reaches the door and opens it to see his neighbor, ready for another day of work. _

"_How are you doing today, neighbor?" Jackson asked happily before noticing his neighbor's almost bloody lower lip and poor posture._

"_My back hurts," Francisco complained to his neighbor._

"_Do you need help getting back to bed?" Jackson asked before noticing that Francisco was falling. Jackson grabbed him before he crashed down and carefully laid him on the floor, "On a scale from one to ten, how much pain are you feeling?"_

"_Seven," he struggled to say through his breath. Francisco tried to get up from the bed, "I'm fine…I can handle it…"_

"_You need to rest," Jackson told him, "If you push yourself too had, you're only going to make things harder on yourself in the future. Trust me, I've seen plenty of old men who try to tough things out and they pay the consequences for it every day._

_Francisco took a deep breath and conceded, "Can you help me to my bed? I don't know if I can get back alone." Jackson nodded, "…just make sure that there aren't any rusty nails on the ground, and I'll be happy…"_

"_I'm not letting you drag yourself on the floor, nor am I going to drag you either. Would you like me to get you a wheelchair or a skateboard so that you can wheel yourself into your bedroom?"_

"…_the wheelchair would be nice…"_

"_Give me a few minutes, and I'll be right back," he said before running to his house to retrieve the medical device._

_With his neighbor gone, Francisco made an attempt at getting back on his feet to ease the burden on his neighbor. He keeps being surprised by the generosity of the man next door; he wasn't used to the thought of a stranger choosing to spend his weekend helping him fix his house, so he wasn't sure what to think._

_Jackson returned with a wheelchair, "Oh good, you're up. Here, take a seat."_

_Francisco complied and is wheeled into his room, "Were you this nice to the old neighbors?"_

"_Excuse me?"_

"_It just feels strange to me that someone that I've only known for a few days would be so kind."_

_That was his parents' influence. Growing up, they would always tell him about how judgmental people that come to your home are, how you can't trust anybody but family or how you'll never really know anybody that comes into your life. _

_Jackson nodded his head in realization, "Oh, I see that I came on a little strong."_

"_No! That's not what I mean, it's just why?"_

_Jackson helped Francisco into his bed, "Honestly, you looked like a nice young man who needed a little help."_

"_Is it that obvious?"_

"_Well there is your aching back, so maybe I'm not that far off."_

_Francisco smiled, "Okay, you got me there."_

"_If it makes you feel better, I can tell you a little bit about myself, so that you can feel more at ease. Ask me whatever you please."_

"_Alright, but don't think that you can't ask anything," Francisco offered._

_Jackson nodded, and over the course of an hour, Francisco began to learn that his neighbor was a widower who lost his wife ten years ago, he is a retired teacher who has traveled the world, learning different skills from all corners of the world, he doesn't have any children, and he occasionally moonlights for his friends if they ever need an extra pair of hands. _

_In return, Francisco gave a brief summary of twenty-six year life; from Elena and Caroline, growing up, sports, and his move to Michigan as young boy with his parents and two older brothers._

_The conversation almost made Francisco forget that he woke up in pain._

_Almost. _

_As soon as the questions stopped, Francisco's pain returned, "Can you do me a favor and get my medicine from the kitchen cabinets?"_

_Jackson quickly walked to the kitchen and spotted Francisco's medicine. He grabbed his neighbor a glass of water and noticed the label, which showed the medicine has been expired for a year._

_He walked back to Francisco, "I noticed that your medicine is expired," Jackson declared, "Do you want me to call the pharmacy for a refill?"_

_Francisco shook his head, "Don't worry. I probably left my more recent prescription at home. I can get my family can bring it for me later."_

* * *

Lisa walked up to Lynn's front door with a backpack and medical bag in tow. About an hour ago, she received a call from her older sister, who stated that she wasn't feeling well, and urgently requested her medical expertise. However, despite knocking on her elder sister's door multiple times; Lynn isn't responding.

Lisa checks under the welcome mat, but doesn't find a key; her sister hasn't gotten around to getting a spare key, which now leaves Lisa with little choice. She pulls out a lock picking kit and discreetly picks the lock to let herself into her sister's apartment. The warm air hit her and she walked over to the thermostat which was set at a higher temperature than outside.

"Lynn? Are you currently in your habitation?"

It normally isn't in Lynn's nature to call her unless necessary, so Lisa couldn't imagine that her older sister was playing a prank.

"Lynn?" she called again as she walked down the hall.

The silence was beginning to worry Lisa, until she heard groans coming from the bathroom. Lynn, who is currently wrapped in a blanket despite the hot temperatures outside, is shivering on the floor of the bathroom.

"If this is what Francisco deals with every day, I really gotta stop telling him to suck it up," she told herself before noticing Lisa walked in, "Hey," Lynn said as she tried to get up off the floor.

Lisa helped her sister into a sitting position, "What seems to be ailing you, fifth eldest sibling?"

"Just getting right to it? No 'how are you?' or 'hello'?"

Lisa set down her medical bag and pulled out a thermometer to check her sister's temperature, "That's why I asked, 'What seems to be ailing you, fifth eldest sibling?'." The thermometer beeped, "You have a fever, and considering your choice to wrap yourself in a blanket, especially at our current outdoor temperature, indicates chills. Based on your comment about your childhood friend, I can deduce that you also may be suffering from back pain. Is there anything else that I should be aware of?"

"My guts don't feel so good either," Lynn said, before she made an attempt to get on her feet and head back to bed.

"What does that mean?" asked Lisa, as she tried to keep her sister still.

Lisa pressed on her abdomen, and Lynn hissed upon feeling the added pressure.

"Well…let's get you back to bed," the younger sister said as she helped Lynn to her feet. Lynn dragged her feet out of the bathroom and Lisa followed after her before she noticed the contents of commode.

Lisa wrote down the symptoms that Lynn was displaying. She had an idea of what could be ailing her sister, but she didn't want to confirm without asking her sister a few more questions.

Lynn stood in front of her bed, "Dang it…I don't have any spare sheets," she complained before leaning her body against the wall.

"You still haven't learned the value of having spare bedding in your home?" Lisa asked as she noticed why Lynn wanted clean sheets.

Lynn rolled her eyes, "No, I haven't. You can get on my ass about that later," she said before letting her body slowly land on the floor.

Realizing that Lynn isn't going to lay down on the bed, Lisa took a seat next to her sister. She noticed the sadness in her eyes, "How many days have you been ill before you decided to call me?"

"Two."

"Did you feel any nausea in the last few days?"

Lynn nodded her head.

"Do you mind if I check your heart rate?"

She shook her head, before Lisa pulled out a stethoscope from her medical bag. Lisa listened to Lynn's heart rate, and didn't detect any abnormalities.

"Ow," complained Lynn, "That hurt."

Lisa was surprised to hear her sister feel pain in her pectoral muscle, especially since she didn't press down too hard with the diaphragm of her stethoscope.

Lisa took a deep breath, "I believe I know why you're ill. I'm going to prescribe you some medicine, although given your current physical state, I can probably call Lily so that I can retrieve your medicine. You should be fine, but I will continue to monitor your progress to ensure that you are able to overcome your ailment."

Lisa pulled out her phone, but Lynn asked, "So what's wrong with me?"

The younger sister took a deep breath.


	12. Trips and Sleep

As practice came to a close, Elena grabbed her gear. She was glad that summer, and by extension, baseball season are almost over. For two years, she has spent time trying to love a sport that she had almost no interest in, but her heart could never get into it as much her father. After two years, she was ready to call it quits. It was some sort of ride, but not what she would describe as fun.

She looked over at her dad, who was, like always, looking out at the field. The girl told herself for weeks that she was going to tell her father the truth about her and baseball, but she chickened out. The season was almost over, and she promised herself that she was going to make this happen.

Elena walked to her dad, who was patiently waiting for her in the stands. Normally, at this time, he would be talking with Coach Lynn about baseball, which she wondered how they could only talk about it without getting bored. Nearly two seasons, and they still only talk about the same sport, how?

"Ready to go?"

She nodded. At this point, she wished that Coach Lynn wasn't absent so that she put off her news off for just a few more minutes. Then again, that would be a worse idea. If her father could be believed they always talked about baseball, and the girl was positive that he may not want to hear her news after his and Coach Lynn's discussion on the sport.

As the two walked to the truck, Elena spoke up, "Dad, can I tell you something?"

"Sure, what is it?" he asked as he looked over at her.

"I wanna quit baseball. I don't like it, and haven't liked it since I started, but I figured since you like it that maybe I can learn to like it so that you can hang out with me for more than just during our weekends. And I know that it's your favorite sport, and I really, really wanted to like it, but I just don't. I want to do dance or singing or art class, maybe play an instrument like the piano or violin or the flute…"

"Elena…Elena…Elena," he tried to interrupt her rambling as she named more activities that she wanted to participate in. "Honey, I don't care if you don't like baseball. I get it. Not everyone likes it; I'm not going to force you to do it. But can I ask you something? Did you really think that if you started playing baseball I would come by more often?"

She nodded her head.

He sighed looked at her in the eye, "Trust me, I didn't just start coming to see you more just because you started baseball. I've wanted to switch up my work schedule for a long time. It didn't just start because of baseball, I did it because I wanted to be there for your things. You got it?"

"Yes," she said quietly.

Francisco turned on the truck. The two sat in silence, until he asked, "So what instrument were you interested in playing?"

Elena perked up, "I was thinking piano, but then I would stuck sitting in front of it, rather than going outside to play music on beautiful days. Maybe the violin…but then I worry about pain in my neck…I guess I could try the saxophone, I could join a jazz group! And you don't hear of a lot of people doing that, but that would mean replacing the reeds a lot…and piano seems like it would be easy without having to worry too much about stances…and violin offers me flexibility to play wherever I please…oh! Maybe guitar? I bet it'll be easy to find a teacher and it the most popular instrument in the world…but everyone plays guitar…"

Francisco smiled and lightly shook his head as he heard his daughter attempt to decide on an instrument to learn to play.

"How about this? There are three kinds of instruments, right? The gold ones, the string ones, and the ones you hit, right? Which one would do you think you would like better?"

Elena just glanced at her dad; surprised by how poorly he classified instruments, and how he missed one group. She thought quietly about his question. She wasn't sure about which instrument she would want to play, so she shrugged her shoulders.

"Well, how about you just finish the season and then your mom and I can talk about what music lessons you can take. Deal?"

"Deal," she said with a smile.

Francisco pulled into the driveway, and they stepped out of the truck. With the information that Elena just presented him, he wanted to start discussing it with Caroline, so that they can find her something to do once the season is over.

Caroline opened the door, and smiled, "Hey, how was practice?"

Elena hugged her mom, "Messy. Can I go shower and change?"

Caroline let her go, and let her daughter run inside, she turned to her ex, "Did she talk to you about quitting baseball?"

"She already told you?"

"Yeah, she's just been afraid of letting you know, since she thought that you would stop showing up like you did in the spring," she playfully commented.

He sighed, "How many times do I have to say it? I temporarily switched shifts."

The blonde laughed, "I'm sorry, I'm sorry. You know that I believe you. I just wanted to pull your leg a little."

Francisco smiled, and let out a very sarcastic, "Ha ha, so has she told you what she wants to do instead?"

Caroline shook her head, "She hasn't. I was hoping that you could get her down to one thing. Last week, she started with six different things, and I think I managed to get her down to four, can you help me out and see if you can talk her into doing one or two things?"

"I'll try…hopefully she doesn't trying adding more to music, dance, singing, and art," Francisco looked down at his watch, "I should get going, I want to get some rest before I go to bed tomorrow."

As he walked away, Caroline remembered something that she wanted to ask, "Francisco, before you go. I have an upcoming work trip and I'll need to leave during the week, would you be able to take some time off to watch Elena?"

"Of course. Just let me know the date so that I can ask off."

* * *

_A loud crash woke the two parents. Neither is a stranger to loud noises early in the morning, especially with six young children, but despite having being accustomed to their morning shenanigans, they are constantly on their toes to make sure that someone doesn't get hurt._

_Lori and Lynn's muffled arguing could be heard by both parents, and soon the rest of the girls could be heard arguing._

_Rita opened her eyes, "I got up first last time. It's your turn," she told her husband._

"_Just five more minutes," he mumbled._

_The yelling got louder, and he couldn't ignore it anymore. He yawned and got up from bed and walked out of his bedroom, where he saw what the girls were fighting about. His three-year-old daughter and one-year-old son looked like they were about to sledding down the stairs at high speed. Lynn and her brother slid down stairs and Lynn Sr. ran as quickly as he could and grabbed both children off of the sled before it crashed into the front door._

_Lori yelled from upstairs, "Dad! Lynn didn't listen when I told her not to sled down the stairs!"_

_He handed Lincoln off to his wife and looked over at his youngest daughter. Since the day she came home, she has always been a handful for both parents; long nights trying to get her to sleep, jumping off of random furniture, running around the house, and recently getting suspended from daycare._

_She giggled in his arms and said, "Again! Again!"_

"_No, Lynn Jr. not again," he told her. "Look at me," but she squirmed as she tried to get out of her father's grasp. He pulled her up to eye level, "Lynn, no," he said sternly, until she took a hold of his nose and tried to pull on it._

"_Alright young lady," he calmly told her, "You're going to help me with breakfast. Follow me," he told his daughter as he took her into the kitchen. He sat her down on the counter, "What do you think that the family wants for breakfast?"_

_The father turned around and saw Lynn standing on the counter about to jump towards the floor, "No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no," he panicked and took hold of her. "Okay, that was daddy's fault," he set her down on the floor, "Let's try this again."_

_Lynn Sr. looked around, "Where did she go?!"_

_Rita walked into the kitchen with her daughter in hand, "If you want, I can take Lynn with me to visit my dad? Maybe new environment where she can run around outside will be good for her," she looks down at her daughter and asks, "Do you want to go see your Pop-Pop?"_

"_Yeah!" she happily said._

* * *

Lynn waited by the luggage carousel. Margo said that Tom was going to pick her up at the airport, which was not something that she was looking forward to. No, Tom isn't a bad guy or anything, but he and Lynn didn't have much in common; she's obviously into sports, while he was more interested in the science stuff that Lisa liked.

She pulled out her phone, and messaged Tom to let him know that she arrived and was just waiting on her luggage. It was only a week, but she planned on making the best of it, and maybe take in the sights and smells of such a large city.

Lynn felt her phone buzzing; it was Tom, saying that he just arrived. She looked at her phone and set her phone to the city. The city's weather showed up on the screen, and while she isn't fond of extremely hot summer weather, she figured that she can handle it. The luggage began to circle the carousel she got her luggage and walked out of the terminal. The heat took Lynn by surprise. She was used to Michigan summers, but this was something else. Her skin started to feel sticky and warmer than normal, and she was rather tempted to return to the terminal and wait until it got cooler.

She kept her eyes peeled for Margo's husband, who she noticed was bouncing around his car. Lynn walked over to him; surprised that he still hasn't acknowledged her presence.

"What are you doing?"

"My foot fell asleep. I've been in the car for an hour, and I needed to move them."

Lynn looked at him, confused, "An hour? Why? I get that it can be a pain to wait in traffic, but you didn't have to come so early, I could have stood around waiting."

Tom snickered, "From what Margo tells me, you can't." Lynn nodded at the statement, "But I've been in the car for an hour, so that I can be on time to pick you up."

Lynn looked stunned, "An hour!? I thought you both lived a few miles away from the airport?"

Tom nodded his head, "We do…from the other airport. So do you want to get breakfast? It's going to be a while."

Lynn stood there stunned, _'An hour!? In the car? I guess I should've paid attention to the airport code like Margo said.'_

"Sure, let's go see what we can find," she said as she loaded her luggage into the car.

As soon as Tom turned on the car, she didn't hesitate to turn on the air conditioning while having her face as close as possible.

'_How the heck do they survive down here? It's so hot!'_

"So how are Margo and the baby?" she asked.

Lynn's original intention was to be in town for around the time of the birth, but she couldn't impose and spend a week shortly after her best friend gave birth. In hindsight, it worked out for the best.

"Can I tell you the truth?" Lynn nodded, "I cannot get the baby to sleep at all. I pick him up and he starts crying and won't stop for hours and hours and hours," he complained, as he tried to rest his head on the steering wheel.

"Watch the road!" she yelled as he snapped back to attention and swerved himself properly to the lane. Lynn's heart raced at what just happened, "I get it. Babies can be tough. Take it from someone who's dealt with six younger siblings, but it gets easier." Her parents definitely made it look easy, by the time she came around, they were pros and could handle anything.

"Do you really think so? Because it seems impossible at the moment," he said as he turned to her.

Lynn quickly pushed his head back towards the road, "Dang it, Space Case! Watch the road!"

* * *

_Rita pulled into her father's home, "Alright girls, we're here. Now is everyone going to be good while we're here at Pop-Pop's?" she asked, though she was looking at her youngest daughter, who was too busy looking at her surroundings._

_Lori and Leni responded, "Yes," but Lynn looked out at window; ignoring what was going on around her. _

_Rita took Lori and Leni's hands and Lynn grabbed onto Leni's hand as they walked to Pop-Pop's front door. _

_It isn't out of the ordinary to parents to want a break and talk to other adults, and Rita took full advantage of her father's retired status, whenever she could, especially with his boundless energy to keep up with his six grandchildren._

_The family walked to the backyard and the three girls began to run around and play as Albert and Rita took a seat under the shade._

_Lynn yelled as she tried to climb a tree, "Pop-Pop! Pop-Pop! Pop-Pop! Look what I can do! Look what I can do! Pop-Pop!"_

_Albert briefly turned to her, "I see you." He turned back to his daughter, "Are you okay, Rita? You look tired."_

_Rita smiled as she turned her tired eyes towards her father, "You've been saying that since Luna was born," she joked._

_Both adults laughed, until Lori yelled for her mother. They turned towards the girls and saw Leni crying while Lori and Lynn are playing tug-of-war with a doll._

"_Mom! Lynn took Leni's doll, even though it wasn't her turn."_

"_It's never my turn!" Lynn said to defend herself._

"_Cause you never wait!"_

_Lynn felt her cheeks redden with anger and she jumped on her oldest sister. She clutched tightly on her older sister's shirt as she tried to get the younger sister off of her back. Both screamed as neither sister let go of the other, and Leni stopped crying as she tried to break the two apart. _

_Rita and Albert ran up to the three girls and pried Lynn off of Lori. Albert took hold of Lynn, who has tears forming in her eyes, and carries her away from her older sisters._

_The girl buried her head in her grandfather's shirt, "They never let me play," she whined._

"_Aww, I'm sure they'll let you, but you have to be nice too," he reassured her._

_Albert sets her down near his seat, and waits for his daughter, who was busy comforting the two girls. He looks down at his youngest granddaughter and notices that she's already walking from him and towards a line of ants._

_Rita picks Lynn up and carries her back to where she was sitting, "I want you to stay right here where I can keep an eye on you."_

_Lynn sat still for a minute. She began to tap her foot and then her fingers as she looked at her sisters. They were playing quietly with their toys under the tree, and she desperately wanted to join them. Lynn looked up at her mom and grandpa and noticed that neither one was looking down at her, so she quietly tried to move towards her sisters. _

_Rita noticed that her youngest daughter moving towards Lori and Leni, "Lynn, sit down."_

_The girl sat back down by the table._

_Rita looked at her father, "Lynn and I have no idea what to do with her. She runs around the house, she doesn't listen to us, and no matter what we do to help her sleep, she keeps getting up from her naps and in the middle of the night."_

_Albert rubbed his chin as he thought about how to solve his daughter's problem, "Do you take her out to the park? I bet running around with all those kids will wear her out."_

"_I take her nearly every day; it doesn't work."_

"_How about warm milk to help her sleep? It used to work for you."_

_Rita shook her head._

"_What about tee-ball? My friend mentioned that his grandson just started playing, and I bet it'll be great for her. She'll get a chance to be outside, run around, and maybe learn to wait her turn," he said as he pointed towards Lynn, who is running towards her sisters, trying to get their attention._

_Rita sighed, "Not yet, but at this point, we're willing to try anything."_

* * *

Tom held on tightly to the car's handle, terrified of Lynn's driving, "Lynn, are you sure that this is a good idea?" he asked as she swerved between cars on the freeway.

Lynn scoffed, "We'll be fine. Besides these drivers sure as heck don't mind a little speeding," she said before taking a bite of her third chicken biscuit. "Man, these things are good. I'm glad I went and got the fifth one."

"You give me crap for talking while driving, but its okay for you to eat your breakfast while driving?"

"That's different," she said before taking a bite of her hash brown, "I can keep my eyes on the road, whereas you can't talk to me without forgetting that you're behind the wheel. Besides this is fun, everyone is going over the speed limit and the cops don't care," Lynn noted as she got passed by a cop.

"Fine, but can you at least stop swerving between lanes and slow down?"

"Fine!" Lynn slowed down a bit, and Tom sighed in relief. "So how much longer until the exit? I feel like we've been driving forever," she complained.

"You're telling me," he agreed with her whining. "But we only a few more exits and we're good."

"Still? Geez, why is everything so far away around here?"

Tom shrugged his shoulders, "We like our space?"

"Which space? The one around us or the one above us?"

"Both," he said with a smile.

Fourteen exits later and a lengthy drive through the streets, the two got out of the car, and Lynn began to stretch, "I can see why you complained, that _was_ a long drive."

Margo noticed her husband's car pull into the driveway and went outside. She saw Lynn stretching her back and joked, "I hope you learned your lesson and will listen when I tell you to pay attention to the airport code."

Lynn ran up to her best friend and gave her a hug, "I did. But maybe next time, you visit me in the summer instead."

Tom and Margo laughed, as they took her luggage and led her inside.

He took her bags to her room, as he laughed recalling how Margo would complain about the summer heat, "And she still complains too sometimes."

Lynn whispered to Margo, "He was still talking?"

"He does that sometimes," she whispered back.

It was hard to believe that they hadn't seen each other in so long. Sometimes, Margo would make trips back up to Michigan, but usually those trips were for her to visit her parents; Lynn would see her, but not as much as she would want to.

The sound of crying caught the women's attention, and Margo excused herself to tend to her son. Lynn followed after her, and she caught up to her friend in the nursery. The blue and white room decorated with toys and baby supplies stopped Lynn in her tracks and she didn't walk past the doorway.

Margo took hold of her crying son, and she turned to Lynn, "Do you want to hold him?"

Lynn shook her head.

* * *

_Lynn took off her seatbelt and jumped off of her car seat; she rarely gets an opportunity to ride alone with dad in the daytime and he said that she was in for a treat._

_After Rita came home from her father's, she brought up the suggestion to her husband, and the two decided that playing sports may be a nice opportunity for her to socialize, learn to cooperate, and maybe burn up some energy to get some sleep later that night._

_She looked out the window and began to name everything that she saw, "Tree! Lady! Tree! Tree! Man! Doggy! Hi doggy!"_

_The father turned towards her and panicked upon seeing his daughter, "Lynn!? What are you doing?" he pulled over and placed her back in her car seat. "What are we going to do with you?" he playfully asked her, as he lightly flicked her nose. He took a seat behind the wheel, and looked at her; squirming in her seat._

_He and Rita have tried tiring her out in the past, and it rarely did anything to calm her down, but after hearing Albert's suggestion, they figured that they could give tee-ball a try. Now all the patriarch was hoping was that his daughter would sit still long enough to find some sort enjoyment in the game._

_He got out of Vanzilla and took Lynn out of her car seat. The two walked towards the baseball field, where other parents and children are already gathered and ready to start practice. _

"_Alright, LJ. You've got to be a good girl and listen to your coaches, okay?"_

_She nodded and ran ahead towards all of the other children. Everyone was beginning to gather on the field and Lynn quickly ran towards the coach. The kids took a seat on the grass and Lynn followed their lead._

_The coaches began to introduce themselves while Lynn looked down at the grass and noticed an ant crawling on the ground. _

_A girl with blonde hair next to her said, "The coach asked your name."_

_Lynn looked up, "What?" she turned and saw everyone looking at her. "Uhh…I'm Lynn Loud Jr."_

_With introductions out of the way, one of the coaches began to explain the rules for plastic ball tag, while the others were setting up for the game. Lynn looked at the other adults, who were placing cones along the bases. The children stood up and followed the coaches and stood inside the area. _

_The coach blew the whistle and the children began to run. Lynn didn't know what the rules were and she just ran around like the other children. She saw the coach walking around tagging children with a plastic ball and she ran away every time he got close._

_More and more kids began to tire out and stepped out of the area to rest, but Lynn and a few other kids continued. The coach began to walk faster, and Lynn would run as fast as her little legs would carry her. Soon, she realized that she and the blonde-haired girl were the last ones left. The girl was soon tagged, but Lynn refused to back down. She ducked and dodged the coach, before he called out to her, "Alright, Lynn, that's enough."_

_The girl stopped and turned to face the coach, "Your face is red."_

_He nodded as he tried to catch his breath; he didn't expect her to keep running as long as she did._

_Practice continued with the kids learning the bases, how to grip and throw the ball, and even learning to run around the whole diamond. Each time, Lynn noticed the same girl who would run almost as fast as her or kept up as long as she did._

_When practice ended, the coaches encouraged the kids to high five each other. Lynn looked around for the little blond girl, she held her hand up, "I'm Lynn Loud Jr."_

* * *

Early in the morning, Lynn woke up and looked around the room. Her looked at her cell phone and saw that it was barely seven in the morning, "Dang time difference."

She quietly roamed the hallway to avoid waking up everyone, when she heard Nicholas begin to cry. Lynn sighed, "Guess I wasn't quiet enough."

She decided to at least help her best friend out by letting Margo get some extra sleep while she looks after the crying infant. She walked into his room, yawning, "What's got you all pissy this morning, Nick?" He quieted down a bit after hearing Lynn's voice.

Rather than take any chances, she stepped backwards towards the door, but he seemed as though he is going to get agitated again. She stepped up to his crib and picked him up before slowly rocking him around the room, "1, 2, 3…1, 2, 3…1, 2, 3…" she said as she made a poor attempt at mixing her movements to the tune of a waltz. "Aww so that's what you look like when you aren't crying or sleeping," she told the now quiet infant.

She took a seat in the rocking chair, "Sorry I can't feed you right now, kid. But you can wait for your mom. Then again…any wait for you is like forever."

Lynn mentally added up the days in her head, "I think you're what? Eighty days old? I guess a minute is a bigger portion of your life than mine."

Nicholas looked up at her with eyes ready to start crying again, "No, don't cry, uh, let's see…" she began to rock back and forth, as she hummed a little song. Lynn wished that she paid more attention to her sisters when they were caring for their children, or even their younger sisters; instead, she's trying anything that she could remember from movies and tv shows.

"It's interesting when you think about it," she told the infant, "To you, a minute is forever, but there are a lot of other extremes too. A lot of things can be the happiest and the scariest and the saddest. A soft blanket is probably the greatest thing in the world, and a loud noise is the scariest thing out there, but that's probably because your world is kinda small; it's just this house and this overgrown city. You'll eventually learn that things aren't that bad, but I get it, the first time will freak out any rookie. Everybody goes through it. First, its noises, then strangers, needles, make-believe monsters, heartbreak…but you'll get to appreciate the good, brave the scary, and overcome the sadness, and you'll get to experience a lot of cool things in life," Lynn said as she kept rocking him while she thought of some experiences. "Like the taste of your first piece of chocolate, learning to throw a ball, go swimming, make friends, go on dates, learn to drive, finish high school, all the fun stuff in the middle."

She looked down at him to notice Nicholas clutching her shirt and sleeping while pressed against her torso. "You can keep sleeping, but I need some coffee, we can't all sleep the day away."

Lynn looked up from the infant and saw Margo at the doorway, holding a baby monitor, "And here you are saying that you weren't cut out to care for babies."

"It's a one-time fluke. It's no big deal," Lynn said as she got up from the rocking chair and walked to the kitchen in Nicholas in her arms, passing Margo, who was waiting to take the infant into her arms.

Margo looked at her quietly told herself, "One-time fluke, and yet she's not letting go of him," she said with a smile on her face.

Lynn looked around the kitchen for coffee, she looked down at the infant, "You wouldn't happen to know where mommy and daddy keep the coffee, do you?"

He blinked back at her.

"Yeah, I figured. The only drink you know is milk, and you're so stubborn you won't stop looking for it."

Margo took the coffee out of the cupboard, and began to make some for both of them. She continued to look at her best friend who seemed to be having a conversation about the World Series with her son.

"Do you want me to name all the winners from 1903 to now?"

Nicholas blinked.

"I'll take that as a yes!"

Margo rested her head against the counter as Lynn began to spout out the winners of the World Series.

* * *

_Lynn took a bite of her bread roll. After nearly three weeks of tee-ball, the girl did seem calmer after practice, but now her mind was completely preoccupied with the game and the new friend that she made._

"_And then the coaches made us do exercises and I did more than everyone, even Margo!"_

_Lynn Sr. looked at his daughter, "Kiddo, don't talk with your mouth full."_

_Rita gave Lincoln a spoonful of food, "Well looks, like you have a lot of fun at practice, Lynn Jr." she turned to her oldest daughter "Luan, how was your day?"_

"_Fun. In arts and crafts, we made paper flowers and–"_

"_And next week the coach said that we can collect the balls!"_

"_Lynn, don't interrupt your sister. You had your turn and we were all patient, now it's your turn to do the same for your sisters," Rita lightly scolded._

_Lynn Sr. turned to Luan, "Honey, keep going, how was your day?"_

_Luan was about to start, when Lynn once again interrupted her sister. The youngest girl continued interrupting each sister and before Lori began to talk, Lynn interrupted her like she had her sisters. Lori's blood began to boil and she took her bread roll and tossed it at Lynn's head._

"_Lori!" both parents yelled._

"_She won't stop talking!" Lori complained as she crossed her arms._

"_That doesn't mean that you throw your food at your sister. Now apologize," Rita commanded._

_Lori took a deep breath, but with some bitterness in her voice, "Sorry, Lynn."_

_The parents looked at the clock and declared dinner to be over. Lynn Sr. took the two youngest and carried them up to bed. He placed a now sleeping Lincoln in his crib and tucked his daughter into bed, "Good night my little Lynnsanity Jr. Sweet dreams," he told her as he walked towards the light switch._

_As the room went dark, Lynn asked, "Daddy, does Lori hate me?"_

_He whispered under his breath, "So close…" He walked back to his daughter, "No, why do you think that?"_

"_Cause she hit me with a bread roll, and cause she yells at me, and cause she tells me to go away, and cause–"_

"_Lynn, she doesn't hate you." _

_He tried to think of his words carefully. He understood where Lori's frustrations involving her younger sister came from, but he didn't know how to get his point across and make Lynn understand._

"_She was just tired. You talked a lot–"_

"_So why was she tired?"_

"_Not that kind of tired. Her head felt tired because she wanted to talk. Does that make sense?"_

_He noticed that Lynn was beginning to squirm underneath her sheets, so her tucked her in one more time and gave her a kiss on the forehead, "Good night, sweetie."_

"_Good night, daddy."_

_With the lights off, Lynn tried to close her eyes and sleep, but she couldn't; she thought about her teammates, the new girl that she met, grass, why grass is green and sometimes brown, why dirt is brown, why is tee-ball called tee-ball,_

_She tossed and turned in her bed, she is tapping her foot excessively and she can't bring herself to stop. The house is completely quiet, except for her little brother's occasional snoring, and she can't close her eyes long enough to let herself succumb to sleep. Lynn wondered if anyone else struggled to sleep as much as she did, but rather than stay in bed, Lynn did what she always did when she couldn't sleep – go to mom and dad._

_She opened the door of her bedroom and walked out with her stuffed tiger in hand. Lynn looked at the staircase in front of her and was ready to descend, when the sound of Lincoln snoring snapped her attention back to their shared room. _

_Lynn pulled on her parents' blanket. Rita opened her eyes, and saw her daughter staring at her, "I can't sleep."_

* * *

Margo looked over at Lynn and Tom who had their hands locked trying to push the other back. All she recommended was for them to get some fresh air in the backyard, maybe get Tom to tend to the garden, but instead her friend and her husband accidentally pushed each other in the shed and there are now, trying to push the other back for fun.

"Why is this hard?" Lynn groaned as she started losing her footing, "Seriously, you're a rocket scientist, why am I losing?"

Tom laughed, as he began to push Lynn back with ease, "I guess Margo forgot to tell you that I used to play football in college. I've pushed tackling sleds with push back than this."

Margo shook her head, Lynn obviously doesn't like being talked down to like that, and it wasn't going to end well; no, she wasn't going to get angered, but Margo knew that Lynn would just keep pushing until she won.

Lynn kept pushing back, with a renewed sense of vigor, but was confused by Tom who just mumbling under his breath, all she could catch was, "Fight! Fight! Fight for red and white…"

"Red and white? Are you cheering me on?" she playfully asked.

He shook his head, continued his muttering until he managed to push her to the backyard fence, "…and we will go to victory." He wiped the sweat from his brow and had a good laugh. "You got way tougher at the end, Lynn."

As Lynn tried to catch her breath, she looked over at him, accepting defeat, "Yeah…well I used to play a bit of football in high school…before I realized that baseball was better," she said with a cocky smile.

"I never realized that kickers were that tough," Tom told Lynn, unaware of her real role on the team.

Lynn growled, "I wasn't a damn kick–"

"Lynn! Do you want to go to the beach?" Margo quickly asked, in an attempt to diffuse Lynn, "You've never seen to the ocean, and there's no better day to see it."

"Is it blue, today?" Tom asked with optimism in his voice. Margo handed her phone to him, and he smiled, "Yes!" He walks to his son, and tells him, "I can't wait for you to see this. It's the best way to experience the…"

He looked up at Margo, who was shaking her head, "I was planning on this being a me and Lynn thing."

"But we don't know how long the water is going to be blue for," he almost whined.

"We can take him when he's older, but Lynn's never had a chance to see the ocean and what better time than now."

Tom conceded, "Well, Lynn, you're in for a treat. Enjoy it."

The couple noticed Lynn's silence, and they turned to see her playing peek-a-boo with Nicholas.

* * *

_Rita yawned as she placed Lynn in her car seat. She isn't fond of doing these late night drives, but sometimes it's the only way to get her daughter to fall asleep. It was a ritual that Rita hoped Lynn would have outgrown, but after almost four years, Lynn is still clinging._

"_Mom, why are stars shiny?"_

_Rita responded flatly, "I don't know."_

"_How do they make houses?"_

"_I don't know…" Rita yawned._

"_Are trees just big flowers?"_

"_No…"_

_They still haven't left the driveway and already Lynn spouted out three questions; Rita is tired, but she silently prayed that the drive would help the girl fall asleep. _

_She turned on Vanzilla and heard a ticking sound, "I thought that your father fixed that already," she told her daughter. _

_Lynn tried to get out of her seat, "Look! There's Mr. Gross!" she pointed at her neighbor, who was driving home, presumably from one of his night fishing trips._

"_It's Mr. Grouse, Lynn," Rita looked at the rearview mirror and saw Lynn almost successfully unbuckle her seat, "Lynn Loud Jr.!_

_Lynn immediately stopped trying to unbuckle her seat and decided to look out the window. _

_The streetlights shined their path, and Rita was tempted to make a U-turn back to the house, but as she looked in the rearview mirror, she could see that Lynn was still wired._

"_You know, when you were a baby in my tummy, I remember that you would struggle to sleep too," Rita reminisced to her daughter. "Some nights, I would be awake all night, and you would be kicking me, but by morning, you would be nice and quiet…at least until lunch time," she laughed._

_Lynn giggled, and her thoughts went to food, "Can dad make spaghetti tomorrow?"_

_Rita sighed, "I'll ask him, but–"_

_Lynn pointed at a glowing neon sign, "Mom, what's that?"_

"_It's a–"_

"_Is there chocolate in your bag?"_

"_I didn't bring my bag–"_

"_What's that tick-tick-tick sound?"_

"_It's Vanzilla. Remember, I said that–"_

"_Does Vanzilla have a mommy van and a daddy van?"_

_Rita grew impatient with the girl's excessive question, "Lynn! Enough already! I want you to go to sleep, so that I can sleep! So please stop talking and try to sleep!"_

_Everything went silent after that._

_The only noise inside Vanzilla is a ticking sound._

_Rita sighed and rested her head on the steering wheel; she couldn't believe that she snapped at her daughter like that. Luckily, there were no cars around, so she could stay put for a little longer, but she still felt terrible for what she did._

_She raised her head up, "Lynn, I'm sorry I snapped at you like that. I know that you may be sad, but mommy is tired, but that doesn't mean that I should have yelled at you because I know that you're tired too. Can you forgive mommy?"_

_Lynn didn't answer._

"_Lynn?" Rita turned around and noticed that her daughter is snoring, she smiled, "At least she's finally asleep."_

* * *

Lynn sped down the freeway, "So how far away is the ocean? I can't wait to go swimming."

"About an hour away."

"Are you serious!? What the hell isn't an hour away in this city?" Lynn complained, "Other side of town? An hour away! Airport? An hour away! Your college? An hour away! That boardwalk you told me about? Is that an hour away! What about a burger place? I bet that that's an hour away."

"It's not that bad," Margo laughed, despite knowing that Lynn probably won't change her mind.

"It just seems weird when compared to Royal Woods. There I can get around no problem, but here, I have to sit in a damn traffic jam just to get anywhere. How do you do it?"

Margo just smiled at hearing her friend's complaints; she understood. When she first arrived, she couldn't believe how big and far away everything was in the city; now she was used to it, but hearing Lynn's complaints brought back memories. She remembered freaking out that she wouldn't fit in, or that she would get lost one day by riding the bus, or that she would not be able to handle the homesickness; now it just seemed like a distant memory.

"So, what was Tom talking about the ocean not being blue and whatnot?" Lynn asked.

"It's not always blue, so when it is, people make a big deal about it."

Lynn turned to Margo, "That's just weird."

Margo turned Lynn's head back towards the road, "Eyes on the road. You know, you give Tom so much grief, but you're no better than he is," she joked.

Lynn kept driving. The scenery looked like a boring shade of brown once you passed all the houses that looked alike, a mall, and some of the large stores along the way. The brown made way for a bunch of trees, but the scenery was still boring. Lynn's eyes stared in front of her, but she couldn't concentrate on her environment.

Margo noticed her friend getting too close to the car in front of her, "Lynn! What are you doing?"

Lynn shook her head and realized what was going on, "Oh sorry."

"You're not

"So are we almost close? I feel like I've been driving forever," whined Lynn.

"We're almost there. Once you cross the big bridge and see the water, you'll know that we're close."

"Big bridge, got it!" Lynn pressed harder on the pedal, and Margo held on as tightly as she could.

"The beach is still going to be there, you don't have to kill us."

"I'm not gonna do that," Lynn boasted as she swerved to avoid another car.

After crossing the bridge, and finding a more secluded beach, they pulled into a parking spot, Lynn looked out into the blue ocean; the smell of salt in the air and sounds of tourists were always what she imagined when she pictured beaches. People were barbequing, families were laughing and enjoying the scenery; it reminded her of home.

Margo spoke up, "It's not that different from the beaches back home, except the water is salty and usually not this clear."

"It really isn't…" Lynn absentmindedly said as she stared at the blue ocean.

Lynn ran towards the sand. She kicked off her shoes and tossed them and her socks to the side as she made her way into the water. The waves crashed into her legs, and the water moved back and forth as Lynn stared like a curious child. It wasn't anything out of the ordinary, she was used to it from her occasional overnight beach trips, but it was nice to enjoy the novelty of seeing the ocean for the first time.

Margo looked at Lynn as she splashed around for a bit like a kid; knowing that she wasn't going to get out any time soon, Margo took off her shoes and caught up with her friend.

"So what do you think?"

"This is nice," Lynn started, "Thanks for bringing me out here."

Margo smiled. It was nice to have some time alone; no baby, no husband, just two childhood friends enjoying themselves like old times.

* * *

**Twelve chapters**

**If you're still reading this story, I want to thank you for taking time out of your day to so, especially since I don't think I've actually done so.**

**Unfortunately, the cliffhanger from last chapter somewhat continues. It wasn't an intentional cliffhanger, but for now, your imaginations will have to fill in the gap.**

**(My suggestion, pay attention to the little details, even the tiny ones that you don't think matter, they may pop up somewhere else down the road)**


	13. Nervous Energy and the Talk

Lynn glanced over at Francisco as he checked her car. Ever since she returned from Margo's weeks ago, he has been nagging her to get it looked at, but she always found a way to put it off. Now, he calls her under the guise of a home dinner date to finally take care of what she has neglected for so long.

She tapped her foot. She didn't plan on spending her evening in his garage looking at her boyfriend under her car as she handed him tools.

His hand popped out from under the car, "Can you do me a favor and unscrew the filter cap?"

Lynn looked under her hood; she has no idea what he's talking about, _'I should have asked Lana for lessons a long time ago…'_

"Have you done it yet?" he asked.

"No. I have no idea where the filter cap is."

Francisco rolled out from under the car, he extended his hand out, "Help me up."

She did so, and Francisco called her over and pointed, "That's the filter cap. When you unscrew it, it helps the oil pour out faster."

"Okay…"

She appreciates his efforts to teach her, but she knows that she isn't going to retain the information. Next time she needs to change her oil, she'll just go to a mechanic or something.

Francisco noticed her staring, but knew that she wasn't looking at him, "Did you listen to what I said?"

Annoyed at his tone, she loudly declared, "Yes!"

"What did I say?"

She groaned, "It's to help pour the oil in!"

"It's to help pour it out faster," he corrected. "You should learn how to do this yourself; it can save you some money."

"Money isn't a problem for me."

Francisco scowled, "Fine! I was just trying to be helpful." He rolled back under the car, and began to hum as he waited for the oil to finish pouring out of the car.

Lynn bent down under the car, "What are you humming?"

"Turkish March," he responded, "Why?"

"That's sort of my next question, why are you humming that?"

"Elena has been taking music lessons and this is one of the newer songs," Francisco rolled out from under her car, "Have you seriously not considered getting a newer car? The repairs alone are have got to be insane, and I find it difficult to believe that you like tossing money at this pit."

"No way!" Lynn scowled, "Dutch and I have been through a lot together, and I'm not getting rid of him."

Francisco rolled his eyes, and muttered to himself, "Fine. Keep throwing all your money at this old piece of junk."

Lynn helped him, "Is that it for today?"

"Yes, but next maybe time don't wait so long to change your oil."

"Not making any promises," she walked back inside the house, "So Elena started taking music lessons?"

Francisco followed behind her and washed his hands, "A little over two months. You have no idea, how long it took me and Caroline to finally get her to pick something," he rubbed his head, thinking about how frustrated they were with their indecisive daughter, "She kept going back and forth between dance, music, and art, she even tried adding languages in there too."

"So she's one of those artsy scholar types of kids? What instrument did she end up taking?"

His head pulsed a little, "That was another big decision. Luckily, Caroline was able to get her to choose piano," he pulled out his phone, "Here take a look."

Lynn looked at the video. It was hard to believe that over two months of music lesson, Elena is doing so well on the piano. Granted the girl isn't Mozart, but for a few months worth of lessons, it's still impressive.

"Dang…she really picked up piano quickly," she told him.

Francisco put his phone away, "I know. Those lessons have really been sinking in," he said as if holding back something from her.

Lynn asked, "So is that a bad thing? Cause you sound like something's bugging you."

He shook his head, "It's fine."

She decided to take it at face value, and not pursue it any further, "So do you want dinner? Cause you told me that we were gonna eat."

"Sure, whatever you want."

"Pizza. Little Nero's, maybe?"

He let her order, and in a few minutes they were sitting at the table eating. This is the first time that they have eaten a meal together without some sort of distraction since the week after her birthday. Unfortunately for both of them, the habit is a little tougher to break than anticipated, and they sitting in the large reclining chair that Lynn is fond of.

Thunder began to roar outside, and shocked the couple, who quickly jumped and went to look out the window.

As Lynn looked out the window, she said to herself, "I should have left earlier."

It was getting late, and she knew that he was going to have to get to bed soon for work tomorrow. She opened the front door, and walked onto the porch; feeling raindrops hit her face as wind blew towards her.

"What are you doing out there?" questioned Francisco as he cautiously stepped outside the house.

She turned around, "I'm just getting a feel for the weather before I have to go home."

"Just spend the night, anything is better than going out in this storm," Francisco said as he took her hand and led her back inside.

"I'll be fine. Besides, it can't get any worse," she tried to reassure him. She wasn't sure if the weather would get better, but she didn't want to intrude, especially on a work night.

"I insist. Besides, Dutch isn't too reliable and you don't want him dying on you before you get home."

"I'm telling you, don't worry. I've been through worse and Dutch has gotten me through it."

"Lynn," he said firmly, "It's fine and I don't want you to risk anything bad happening just because you're too damn stubborn to spend the night."

She stared at him. She didn't want to concede, but she also knew that he wasn't going to give in either. The two continued their stare-off waiting for the other to give in.

"I'll be fine," she assured him.

He believed her when she said that, but he still didn't want her going out in the storm. Call him cautious, but he preferred to know that she was safe rather than risking her car breaking down or something worse happening for driving in such conditions.

She noticed the worry in his eyes, and gave in, "If it really bothers you that much, I'll stay. But just this once, especially since I'm not looking forward to having to wake up at five in the morning so that you can lock your house up."

He let out a sigh of relief.

She teasingly shook her head and walked past him, "I'm such a good girlfriend."

As she stepped down the hall to find his room, she turned to him and asked, "So what time should I set the alarm for us to wake up?"

He closed the door, and noticed the red mark on his calendar, "Set it for…" he closely looked at the note he left himself saying that he was off, "…don't bother. I'm off tomorrow."

He followed her, wondering why she went to his room instead of the spare room. She laid down on his side of the bed, and buried herself between the sheets.

"Wow, so miracles do happen," she said, as she made herself comfortable.

"I'm allowed days off…so, why are you in here?" he asked, slightly bothered as she undid his bedding and wrapped herself with his blanket.

"Where else do you expect me to sleep? Elena's room? The couch?"

"I was – you know what," he shook his head, "it's fine, I'll just take the spare room," he said as he grabbed a T-shirt and shorts to change into.

She got up, surprised that he would rather sleep in a spare room rather than sleep in his own bed.

"I'll be right back. I'm just going to go get some spare blankets from the linen closet," he told her before stepping into the hallway.

"Is he serious?" Lynn asked herself as she got up and followed him. He was standing at the doorway, looking into the room. "Excuse me, what exactly is so bad about us sleeping together in the same bed? We've done it once before, I doubt one night will be so damn bad." Lynn looked inside the spare room, which was only furnished with a bed frame and a chair.

"I guess I can just sleep on the couch…"

Lynn laughed, "With your bad back?" she gently pushed him back to his room, "C'mon, one night won't be so bad."

Francisco sat on the bed, while Lynn rummaged through his drawers, "So, do you have anything I can change into?"

"I don't think so. I don't exactly make a habit of stocking women's clothing in my drawers."

She rolled her eyes, but she didn't have a choice; they weren't near the same clothing size, and she didn't plan on spend the night to begin with. Lynn pulled out a pair of shorts and T-shirt, and shrugged her shoulders, "This'll do, I guess."

She began to undress, "What are you doing?" asked a shocked Francisco.

"Changing? I kinda have to do that if I want to wear these clothes."

"At least warn a guy," he said before walking to the bathroom.

"You are such a prude. You act like this is the first time that you've seen me take off my clothes."

"Hey! The last time was in the dark."

"Yeah, like you weren't paying attention…" she muttered to herself.

* * *

_After spending hours in a truck, Francisco's family crossed the border into Texas from Mexico and Francisco is happy to finally get cell service to text his friends. He and his family spent over a month visiting his extended family, and while he loves his grandparents, he isn't fond of visiting. For a little over four weeks, the three brothers spent most of their time stuck on the couch watching television, sweating, and cleaning; it was almost like staying home._

_As the family got out of the truck to stretch their legs and grab some lunch before getting back on the road, Kiké approached his younger brother, "Nothing like spending a month in a sweat box with no indoor plumbing to make you appreciate a fast food restaurant toilet and air conditioning."_

"_Grandma and grandpa's place isn't that bad," Francisco told him, his eyes still fixated on his phone._

"_Says the guy who spent a month sleeping on a thin piece of sponge and wood?"_

_Francisco rolled his eyes, and continued to text his friends, letting them know that he would be home in a few days to hang out before summer is over and they go back to school._

"_Well at least now you can understand what they're saying on tv again and you can speak English again without people trying to rip you off."_

"_Are you done complaining?"_

_Kiké shook his head, "No, but you're the only one who doesn't mind hearing me or giving me crap about it since I know you agree with me."_

"_I do mind, you just don't shut up, and even if I tell you anything, it's not going to stop you."_

"_True," he glanced over Francisco's shoulder, "Are you texting the tiny orc?"_

_Francisco pocketed his phone and scowled, "Would you stop calling her that? She has a name and you know it."_

_Kiké ruffled his brother's hair, "Sorry, didn't mean to upset lover boy."_

_Francisco's hand formed a fist, he was ready to strike his brother, but heard his family approach the truck to continue their trip for as far as they could. _

"_Just 1,700 more miles until we get home," Francisco sighed._

_The thought of twenty-five more hours in the truck is stressful. The family has already spent six hours in the vehicle and they were getting on each other's nerves, but there is still plenty of sunlight, and he would rather endure the claustrophobic conditions than take another week to get home._

_Kiké buckled up next to his younger brother, "You know stopping wouldn't be an issue if dad let someone else drive."_

_Francisco somewhat agreed. Despite having four drivers in the family, the patriarch refused to let anyone else drive based on the assumption that everyone but him will get lost. It is definitely annoying, considering that Juan could take a break and refresh his eyes, but the man is stubborn and refuses to hand over the keys. _

_Francisco whispered to his brother, "How many more times does he almost have to crash into a guard rail before he lets someone else drive?"_

_Kiké snickered, "Or almost drive off a mountain?"_

_Francisco's phone buzzed. He barely took it out of the pocket, and turned it on to read; it's Lynn._

_**Come to my house when you get home**_

_He sighed. He was still two days away from arriving, but that isn't going to stop her from inviting him over._

_**Alright. I'll text you when I'm close.**_

_Two more days…_

_He continued the countdown every time that he looked at his phone's clock. If you search the map from the southern tip of Texas to the family's home address it's about nineteen hours of driving, but that doesn't account for gas, food, and stretching, or the occasional fright from his dad's speeding and his mom and Kiké's complaints at the reckless driving._

_As the family pulled into the house, the sun has already set. Everyone is exhausted, but they still need to unpack, plus everyone was tired, hungry, and felt dirty. _

_**I'm home.**_

_**What the hell took so long?  
You said that you crossed the border two days ago!**_

_**We decided to take the scenic route.  
Do you know how big the Grand Canyon is?  
And I got picture at Mount Rushmore!**_

_**HA! HA!  
So I guess I'll see you tomorrow?**_

_**Yes, I'll see you tomorrow.**_

_**GREAT!  
I'll be in the backyard**_

_Francisco out his phone away, and shook his head, "Of course she already has something planned."_

_The next day, he walks over to her house, and he gets closer to Lynn's house, he hears loud music. He follows the music into the backyard and sees a large wrestling ring with her bouncing off of the ropes._

"_Lynn!" he yelled._

_She ignored him._

"_Lynn!"_

_She still didn't listen._

"_LYNN!"_

_She turns off the music and sees a tired Francisco, "Finally!" she yelled as she tossed him a lucha libre mask._

_He pulls the mask off of his face and looks at it, "Seriously, Lynn? I spend a month in Mexico and you think that this is the first thing that I'm raring to do?"_

_She shrugged her shoulders, "I don't know, I thought that you were just complaining too much on the phone. But if you really don't want to do lucha libre we can do something else. How about wrestling?"_

_He tossed the mask back at her, "It's the same thing."_

_She pouted and he turned his eyes away from her's, he knew her puppy-dog eye routine, and he refuses to fall for it. Even if he isn't planning on looking in her direction, she knew that he is going to turn around and look at her._

"_No, I can't wrestle right now. Besides, I don't even have a change of clothes and my mom is definitely going to get mad if I tear another shirt."_

_He opened an eye and accidentally made eye contact with her, "Fine! But can you stop pulling the puppy-dog eyes already?!"_

_She laughed, "Alright, alright, I'm done. Now get in the ring!"_

* * *

Francisco awoke to the sound of his doorbell, he turned to look at his alarm, "Who's at the door this early in the morning?" It was nearly four in the morning and was annoyed that he was forced to wake up early on his day off.

He rolled out of bed and stumbled to the floor, "Are you okay?" asked Lynn, groggy as she struggled to keep her eyes open.

"I'm fine…" he struggled to say between the pain. It was like this every time that he stood up after being in the same position for hours, and he hated it. He pulled out an amber bottle from the nightstand and took his medicine, before slowly attempting to pull himself up from the floor. "Just stay put, I'll go tell them to go away."

"Or you could just ignore it," she said before hearing the doorbell ringing again.

"I don't think they're taking the hint or going to go away any time soon," he said as slowly walked towards the front door.

"Geez…when did those religious people start getting pushier so early in the morning?" asked Lynn as she tried to get back to sleep.

Francisco kept on his slow attempt to the front door. He cursed his back, he cursed the person knocking on the door so early; he wanted to sleep, was that so bad?

The doorbell rang again, this time coupled with knocks on the door. He reached the door, and looked through the peephole and his heart stopped. He forgot all about Elena coming early today, and his promise to Caroline. Francisco took a deep breath, and opened the door to see the woman about to take out her phone to call him.

"Finally!" said Elena, "I almost thought that you were going to go to work with tío Chuy."

"Of course not, I remembered that you were coming over," he tried to convince the girl.

Caroline gazed at him, before kissing her daughter goodbye, "I'll be back on Sunday night to pick you up. Don't give your dad a hard time."

"I won't," she said, somewhat confused by her mother's statement. She's never said anything like that before, but Elena disregarded it.

The girl took her bags and walked into the house, Francisco was about to follow her, but Caroline quickly pulled him aside.

"Really, Francisco?"

"What?" he pretended to play dumb.

"Did you actually forget about that she was coming over early today?" she crossed her arms, annoyed at the possibility that he didn't even remember the little task that she told him about.

"No. I just didn't expect you to be here so early. I even had it written on the calendar, I just had a long night and the storm didn't help me get to sleep…" he began to ramble.

She believed the calendar part; he's prone to writing down important dates, although he could forget to write why they were important, but she didn't believe the rest of his excuse.

"…and next thing I know, I'm falling off of the bed and struggling to get to the door."

She didn't feel like probing, "Fine," she sighed, "I get it." She turned towards and car and quickly remembered, "One more thing, who's car is that?" she asked pointing at Dutch. Francisco tried to think of what to say, but the lump in his throat forced him to struggle. Rather than wait for his response, she told him, "I hope you know what you're getting into."

'_Well…no choice now. It's going to be so weird, especially when Lynn gets out of bed.'_

Francisco went after Elena, who was standing at the entrance to the hallway. He approached her, hoping to get a look at what has her attention; it was Lynn outside of his bedroom door, still dressed in his clothes.

"Good morning, Elena," Lynn said with a nervous smile.

"Good morning, Coach Lynn," she responded, before walking to her room and closing the door.

He walked to his daughter's room, and tried to listen to her, but he didn't hear anything.

"Are you sure that's a good idea?" she whispered to him. He shook his head. They walked back into his bedroom in silence. She grabbed her clothes, "I guess I should go."

"What? Lynn, it's early. You can wait until the sun is actually out."

She was surprised by his suggestion, "You want me to stay? It's already weird enough that she saw me coming out of _your_ room in _your_ clothes, and you think that it's a good idea to be here?"

He hung his head in shame, "Yes…I wanted to tell her, but definitely not like this."

She wanted to scold him; his damn insistence at her being here is the reason they're in this mess, but it wouldn't solve anything, especially after Elena saw her walking out his bedroom.

'_I knew spending the night was a mistake.' _

"You don't have a choice now…but fine! I'll stay, but _you're_ doing all the talking. I'm just going to stick around for breakfast."

Francisco walked to Elena's door, and knocked, "Elena, can you come out…we need to talk."

Silence.

Lynn placed a hand on his shoulder, "Just give her time. She'll come out on her own."

He sighed, "You're right."

"I mean she kinda has to, unless you set her up with her own bathroom in there," Lynn suggested. Francisco clearly isn't thrilled with her response, "Just trying to lighten the mood," she said with a small smile.

The two walked to the kitchen, where Lynn began to raid the refrigerator for something to eat. Francisco took a seat on the couch trying to contemplate every answer that he was going to give to Elena.

'_We've been dating for a few months…a year? Well, there were those three months that we didn't date, ugh, she doesn't need to know that…where was I? No, I didn't show up to your practice because of Lynn…It was my idea to not tell you…We haven't told any other family member…I was going to tell you…'_

Lynn glanced over at Francisco, who was staring into space, she finally spoke up, "I'm sure she'll be fine, she doesn't seem like the type to get overly mad about stuff, especially something like this."

Lynn wasn't wrong, but that didn't mean that Elena was just going to let this go; he lied to her, and despite knowing that she doesn't like being lied to, he still did it anyway. He was hoping that they could talk this out quickly, but it can't begin to happen if she stays in her room.

"What are you looking for?" he asked, as he saw her sniffing for anything to eat.

"Anything that can remotely be considered breakfast, I mean how the heck do you only have an egg, but no bacon? Not even breakfast sausage or anything," she complained before taking a seat next to him.

She rested her head on his shoulder, "Do you at least have some flour to make pancakes or biscuits?"

"I don't know," he lightly snapped, "Look, I don't care about breakfast; I'm too busy worrying about what to say to Elena."

"You should, how the hell do you expect to feed anyone when you barely have anything in the fridge?"

Francisco loudly groaned. This isn't the conversation that he wants to have; he wants to think clearly of what he's going to say and get it over with.

"You're coming to my place for Thanksgiving. If this is how crappy your fridge is year-round, I hate to imagine what you do for a major holiday."

"If it'll get you to stop focusing on the food, fine! But if you're so desperate for breakfast, you can go the grocery store, and get something."

"Fine!" she snapped back and the two went back to sitting in silence.

As Lynn thought about him, she wondered what she would say to her own family members. It didn't matter as much, Lisa and Lucy probably already knew, and the rest would wonder why she didn't tell them sooner. Easy! Because they, and she'll admit that she herself, are meddlers. They'll wonder about dates, stages of the relationship, and worst of all – possible marriage dates. Okay, marriage may not be the worst thing that they'll ask, but it isn't like she wanted her sisters to know anything more intimate than that.

Lynn got her keys and turned to Francisco, who was still deep in thought. "It's going to be okay, she'll understand."

"I hope so."

* * *

_Lynn circled the ring as she waited for him to get in the ring. He noticed her fingers, which looked like she was ready to grasp tightly to him. Francisco could hear his mother's yells from the last time he brought home torn clothing, rather than face that wrath again, he pulled his shirt off and tossed it to the side._

_Her cheeks began to burn, "What are you doing?"_

"_I see your hands and I don't want my mom yelling at me because you decide to grasp tightly onto my shirt and tear it. So how are we doing this? First to five wins?"_

_She looked away from him, "Ten."_

"_Okay, whenever you're ready."_

"_Three…two…one…start!" she said as she ran towards him._

_He stayed put, with his feet planted firmly on the ground. The two locked hands, until he swept her off her feet. She landed on the floor, and she looked up at him before getting back on her feet. He held onto her arm, held her head down, and dropped as he took her with him; pinning her to the mat. _

_She tried to get out of his grasp, but to her surprise, he overpowered her and she couldn't escape._

"_One…two…three…four…five…six…seven…eight…nine…ten! I win!" Francisco happily said._

_Lynn took a deep breath, "You got lucky. C'mon! You still got to get nine more wins to go!"_

_With each round, Lynn continued to fail, and it stunned both of them. Normally in their competitions against each other, they were usually on par with the other, but seeing her lose so many times in a row stunned them both. She took a seat and tried to catch her breath._

_One of the things that Lynn knew was bound to happen was that the boys that she competed against were going to get bigger and stronger, but she hadn't struggled yet. She manages to compete against them and is still able to keep up, yes, there are losses here and there, but seeing herself lose ten times in a row to her friend was a tough pill to swallow. _

"_Did you just let me win?" he asked as he took a seat next to her._

_Lynn blushed, but didn't want to admit the truth, "Yeah…in your texts you sounded so annoyed about your trip I thought that you could use a win."_

_He noticed her not looking at him in the eyes, and knows that she's lying. Lynn is competitive, and he knows that she wouldn't purposely throw ten matches in a row, but regardless he is going to appreciate her words, even if they are lies._

_Lynn slicked back her sweat-drenched hair, "I feel like I'm burning alive."_

_Francisco held his breath, "I can tell," he joked._

_Lynn sarcastically laughed and punched him in his arm for the joke he tried to pull at her expense. She walked over to the hose and washed away the sweat and dirt from her skin. The cold water felt good against her reddening skin, and in an effort to have fun with her friend, she turned the hose on him._

_He spit out the water and saw the goofy smile on her face. Not wanting to let her get the last laugh, he ran after her in an effort to take the hose from her. She saw him running after her, and she bolted from her spot with the hose in hand._

_Occasionally, she would spray him, and he would bend the hose to stop her, but would pull on the hose as hard as she could and get him off before spraying him and starting the cycle again._

_Lynn Sr. looked at the pair of teenagers from the kitchen window. The two were laughing and playing, but he is concerned, especially since the shirtless boy is running around after his daughter. Normally, he trusts his daughters, but with Lynn's impulsiveness, the father became a little more cautious; she's getting older and he knows that things can happen. _

_Rita walks into the kitchen with Lily in hand, "What are you looking at, honey?"_

"_Did we ever have the talk with Lynn Jr.?" he immediately asked._

_Rita tried to recall. She was sure that they talked with the four oldest, but she wasn't sure if she or her husband has gotten around to talking with their fifth oldest. Rita knows that Lynn is about to start high school, but it doesn't hurt to go over a few things before she begins dating or become the object of someone's affection._

"_I don't think so, why?"_

_She approached the window and saw what her husband is staring at; her daughter spraying water on her shirtless male friend, who looked as if he wants to tackle her to the ground._

_Both parents saw them running back and forth until Francisco cornered Lynn. She turns around and tackles him, claiming to want 'revenge' on the boy._

"_Okay, I know that this doesn't look good, but I don't think–"_

_Lynn Sr. took Lily from his wife's arms and ran outside, "LJ! Can you watch Lily? She keeps coming into the kitchen and I don't want her to get hurt."_

" –_that you should overreact…" Rita finished._

* * *

Elena yawned and stretched as she got up. She didn't want to leave her room right now, she wanted to stay curled up in her bed, and sleep the morning away. Normally, she would be in school right now, but she wanted to relax on the extra day off that her dad promised her.

Her dad.

After immediately falling asleep, she didn't give herself much time to digest the new information.

She opened the door to her room, and could hear the sounds of cooking coming from the kitchen. Normally, meals at her dad's would consist of leftovers from the week or takeout, but her stomach is now conspiring against her as the smell of pancakes and bacon wafted in the air. She wants to stay in the room and avoid seeing her dad and Lynn, but she couldn't stand the rumbling of her stomach, so she walks towards the kitchen.

Lynn sees the girl walking towards the kitchen, "Hey! Take a seat. I'm almost done with the eggs, and I've got some bacon and pancakes ready if you're hungry and want some," she handed Elena a plate with some food before leading her towards her dad at the table, "Coffee's almost done, wait, you don't drink coffee do you?" she shook her head, "No wait, you probably don't, you're kinda young. Don't be like me and start early, it stunts your growth and before you know it, you end up the shortest in the family," she tapped her foot, "Oh! I know orange juice! I'm sure one of your neighbors has some we can borrow or I could go to the store. Or do you like fresh orange juice? I could use the arm workout and some cardio," she told herself as she stretched her arms.

Both father and daughter look at her, surprised by her behavior.

"Uh…I'm fine. Just food and some milk," she quietly responded as she took a seat next to her dad.

Lynn continued scrambling the eggs, "Alright, well the eggs are almost done. I used that guy Guy Grazer's–" the coffee stopped pouring and Lynn tossed the spoon to the side, "Coffee's done!" as she grabs two mugs.

Elena whispers to her dad, "Is she normally like this?"

Francisco shrugged his shoulders, "I don't know…this is the first time she's ever spent the night, so I've never seen her like this in the morning."

Lynn sets down the mugs and grabs scoops some eggs for the three, "So how was everyone's night?"

Francisco cleared his throat, "Lynn, I think that we have something to talk about with Elena," he took a sip from his coffee, and immediately spit it out, "How many scoops of coffee did you add?"

"Seventeen, race you Ann Arbor," she winked.

He pushed the mug to the side, "Look Elena, I know that you probably have some questions right now, so do you want to ask us anything."

Elena shook her head, "Dad, can we just eat breakfast first? I don't–"

Lynn chimed in, "I can fill you in on some things, if you want."

Francisco and Elena immediately said, "No!"

The three quietly ate breakfast. Elena kept her eyes on the both adults; her dad visibly nervous and Lynn appearing to have no care in the world as she scarfed down extra helpings of each breakfast item. She doesn't want to talk, but she knew that by coming into the room her dad was going to want to talk, or at clarify as he sees fit.

The quiet is beginning to bother Francisco and he finally speaks up, "Umm…just so you know, it's been about a year now."

Elena closed her eyes, she wanted to have a peaceful breakfast before they started talking, but her mouth quickly asked, "So it was after the first season ended?"

"Yeah, although we have known each other for some time before that."

"We've been friends since we were kids," Lynn added, between bites of bacon. "I met him at the baseball diamond, and he said–"

"Lynn," Francisco interrupted, "you're getting off track."

She took a bite of her pancake, and decided to let him handle the talk instead.

"When were you planning on telling me?"

Francisco paused as he tried to gather his thoughts. He didn't know when, he knew that he was going to, but never actually stopped to think about when the best opportunity would be.

"When Lynn and I were more serious as a couple," he said.

"She spent the night, and she's still wearing your clothes," she pointed out.

Francisco nodded, "I know, but there was that storm last night. You know how I feel about nights and stormy weather."

Elena sighed, "You don't like it, but you won't tell me why. You never want to tell me anything."

He is taken aback by where she turned the conversation. This isn't the first thing that he's kept from her, but other things don't affect her immediately nor does he think that she's old enough to understand everything that he's held from her.

Lynn spoke up, "What hasn't he told you?"

"Why I never see abuelito, how he got hurt, why he hates chocolate chip cookies, shouldn't that last one be easy?" she turned to her dad, "You never want to tell me anything, you always keep saying when I'm older, and then everyone keeps saying that they want you to tell me, so I'm never going to know, because I'm never old enough."

Francisco firmly said, "Elena, you just turned nine, and I don't think that you're ready to hear about that."

"Really? Even the cookie thing?" She took a deep breath and decided that she didn't want to hear him out for the time being, "Can I be excused?"

Francisco sighed, and let her go.

Elena got up and turned to Lynn, "Thank you for making breakfast."

Lynn snapped her attention to the girl, "You're welcome. Did you want any more?"

She shook her head and told Lynn, "I'm just going to go back to my room…"

* * *

_Lynn let the running water hit her as washed off all the mud and sweat that she accumulated in her little wrestling match. While she did expect a wrestling match, she didn't expect to be running around in the grass and mud with her friend, but she was happy about the little turn of events, even if she was eventually tasked with caring for Lily. She exits the bathroom after her shower, and walks into her room where she happily declares, "There! All clean."_

_Lucy, who is reading a book, didn't look up, but responded, "Maybe next time, you shouldn't wrestle and run around the backyard with a hose chasing your friend."_

_Lynn shrugged her shoulders, "We were just having fun. It's no big deal."_

_Lucy laid into her coffin and continued reading her book. The older sister knows that she just wants to peace and quiet, and decides to quietly toss her basketball through her hoop. _

_She keeps track of all her baskets, and when the ball goes through the hoop the fiftieth time, Lynn pretends to make the sound of a final buzzer and cheers for herself, "Aww yeah! Look at the MVP down there folks!"_

_Rita and Lynn Sr. knocked on her door, "Lynn, can we come in?"_

"_Uhh…sure."_

_The parents locked the door, and each took a seat near her. They were carrying a few sheets of paper, and looked as if they wanted to have a serious talk with her. She could sense the tension in the room and her parents' eyes locked on her's. _

_Rita started, "Lynn, we know that you're about to start high school in less than a month and things are changing around you, both physically and mentally, and you're going to start feeling things for other people that you may not have felt before."_

_She slowly pushed herself towards the wall to avoid them, "We already had this talk in school. I don't need it," she tried to assure them, especially her dad, who is nervously staring at a picture of her team and the opposing team after their last tournament._

"_We know, "Rita continued, "but we want to be sure that you have the proper information."_

_Lynn looked at the withered brochures and printed pages on her father's lap. The idea of hearing this talk is awkward enough with just her mom, but having her dad's panicking voice and eyes made the ordeal a living hell. _

_With each new image, came another internal groan from Lynn. She had an idea of how this talk was going to go based on her sisters' occasional comments, but seeing her dad shuffle through the pages on his lap scared her a bit. Her older sisters never mentioned that he would be talking too, she always assumed that it would just be her and her mom; now here she is trapped in her bed seeing her parents stumble through graphic photos about a variety of diseases, childbirth, and the changing body of a young woman. _

_Lynn looked at her parents and saw their lips moving, but she stopped listening to what her parents were saying. Her eyes are still looking at the two, but she could feel the information go in one ear and out the other. She knows that she should be taking this seriously, but _

"_Lynn, are you listening?"_

_She groaned, "Yes. Are we done? I want to go downstairs and watch tv."_

"_No," her father told her, "We want to make sure that you have all of the proper information and that you're paying attention. This is important and we want to make sure that you are being safe that nothing bad happens to you. I mean, do you want this to happen to you?" He pulls up a graphic photo of a baby exiting the birth canal which surprises Lynn. _

_Rita pushed the photo down, "Lynn, don't scare her," she placed the photo on the lid of Lucy's coffin, and turned to face her fifth oldest daughter._

_Lynn's eyes focused on Lucy, who was emerging from her coffin. The older sister could see the color, or lack thereof, drain from her face as she looked at each photo that was placed on the coffin. With both parents placing their attention on Lynn, neither one could see the trauma that they are accidentally placing on Lucy. Lynn felt bad, she can't stand looking at the photos, and she doubts that the nine-year-old is faring any better._

_Lynn got up from her bed. She led her parents towards the door, "You know mom and dad, this has been great, and I appreciate it. We – I mean I am sure that today will never be forgotten."_

_Lynn Sr. sighed in relief that it was finally over. _

_Neither parent is sure if they are convinced with how much of the talk Lynn retained, they know that she sometimes makes a habit of staring in the right direction, but not listening. However, Rita was happy to ed this to that her husband can stop his panicked teaching. As they exited, Rita turned towards Lynn and whispered in her ear, "I promise next time, it can be just the two of us, okay."_

_Lynn nodded, "Okay, bye." _

_After quickly closing the door, Lynn shuddered as turned towards Lucy's coffin and asked, "Are you okay?"_

_Lucy shook her head, and the older sister took the printed images off of her coffin lid and threw them in the trash, "At least if they ever try talking to you about this in the future, you can tell them that they already did," she said in an effort to ease the tension._

_Lynn couldn't tell if her younger sister appreciated the effort to ease her trauma, but she hoped she did._

"_Why did he do that?"_

"_I think they just forgot that you were in here."_

"_No, I mean, why did it seem like dad was trying to scare you?"_

_Lynn shrugged her shoulders, "I barely noticed. After a while it just sounded like Luna when she plays her trumpet with the silencer on._

"_Lucky…"_

* * *

Francisco tapped his foot incessantly under the table. He knows that the talk could have gone over much better, but at least it was finally out in the open. Elena has barely said over a few words since hearing what he had to say, but for now it was just baby steps.

"You know if you stop tapping your foot, it's gonna itch to tap again when you're done," mentioned Lynn, as she cleaned. As much as Francisco and Elena appreciated their meal, Lynn left behind a mess of a kitchen, which she is currently cleaning alone as Francisco stayed trapped in his thoughts.

"Hmm…"

"I'm just saying from personal experience."

She turned around and saw him continue to tapping his foot away nervously. Lynn understands that both he and Elena have to give the conversation another try, but she doesn't plan on being there. Lynn knows that while the girl didn't intend to, she was trying to get Lynn to side with her about some issues that she has with Francisco, and she doesn't want to get caught in the middle.

"I'm gonna go get my clothes and go…"

"What? Now?"

"It's almost noon, and I don't know…I figure that I should get going or else I'm going to make lunch awkward like I did breakfast."

"You didn't make breakfast awkward. The conversation just got away from me and, yeah…"

Lynn tried to recall what Elena said, and surprised her that Francisco hasn't told her about how he got injured or what happened to his dad. She knows that it's a touchy subject for him, but to outright never explain surprised her. Then again, if Lynn wasn't around when it happened, she's sure that he wouldn't bringing up unless necessary.

She grabbed her things, "I guess I'll bring back your clothes next time."

"I guess…"

As Lynn stepped outside, she turned around and looked at his worried face, "I know that you're afraid of being alone with her, but I don't that she's going to change _that _dramatically the moment she leaves her room."

She took his hand, and tried to comfort him.

"I know that, but I can feel the…the…"

She knows what he's trying to say. Even if Elena was calm upon hearing the news of their relationship, the amount of stress that he was exerting alone could be felt by anyone. The girl has a right to be annoyed that the man she spends her weekends with is as secretive as he is, and Francisco needs to open up or he'll end up making Elena as distant as he was as a boy.

She kissed his cheek, and whispered, "Give her something to work with. Don't you remember what you used to do when you were a kid?"

He sighed, "I'll think of something that won't lead to too many questions."

"Fine, at least you're trying," she said before getting in her car. "Wait! Don't forget the," she pulled out her phone, "the 24th, okay?"

"What?"

"Thanksgiving! I invited you. You can bring Elena too if you want."

* * *

**Look at that! Francisco finally told Elena, sort of... well it's out in the open at least, (Took me long enough) and now that means that she'll be included more in the story than she has been**

**Also, just to make sure that everyone is on the same page, the year is 2033, I'm not sure if I screwed up chapter 1 and got the year wrong then, but over a year has passed in the story's time**

**Just some fun facts that you guys are free to ignore - my dad has come close to driving us off of a mountain and into guard rails for the same reason I mentioned, the chair that was mentioned in chapter 5 and again in this chapter is based off of The Giving Chair from It's Pony, and there was supposed to be a joke about a picture of crabs on Lynn Sr's lap, but I decided to leave the talk more to the imagination**

**Thank you to everyone for reading, until next time  
**


	14. The Youngest and Perspective

"I swear I'm losing my mind. Every week, how does this keep happening?" Francisco asked himself as he searched through his bathroom, looking for his keys, "First my belt, then my work boot, the remote, my measuring tape, and now my keys, why does this keep happening!?"

Francisco checked through his medicine cabinet, but came up with nothing. He sighed; he and Lynn have been searching all over the house for the keys to his truck and neither one have been able to find them. At this point, he began to settle with the idea of searching obscure places just to make sure that he didn't leave them somewhere randomly.

"I am too young to be losing my mind," he told himself before walking to the kitchen. He sees Elena looking by the fridge, "Don't fill up before we get to Lynn's family's place. You'll ruin your appetite," Francisco told his daughter as she opened the fridge door to pull out a water bottle.

"What if there isn't anything I like?" she asked as she closed the door.

Francisco looked through all of the kitchen drawers, "I'm sure you'll like something, after all, Mr. Loud is a professional cook."

Lynn walked in from the side door, "Alright, I checked the backyard, and nothing. Did you check the hook?" asked Lynn.

"No, Lynn. I thought that I'd search the rest of the house before looking where I usually put my keys," he responded with heavy sarcasm.

She scowled, "You don't have to be such an…a pain," she corrected herself after seeing Elena. "You didn't happen to see your dad's car keys, have you?"

Elena shook her head and took a seat on the couch; waiting for the two adults to finish looking for the keys.

Francisco groaned as he stepped out of his bedroom, "How the heck could they have disappeared? I put them on the hook last night and now I can't find them."

"Well, we can always take Dutch to my parents' place," she suggested.

Francisco turned around, "I'm going to search my bedroom again," he said, preferring not to get into a long conversation about Lynn's car.

"This is crazy," Lynn complained. "We've searched every room of the house for over an hour. Inside every drawer, under every pillow, couch cushion and mattress, all that's left are all the pockets in all your clothes."

Lynn took a seat next to Elena. She was getting fed up with looking. All of this wasted time, and it was getting ridiculous that they couldn't find a set of keys. She turned to the girl, and asked, "Does this happen a lot?"

She shook her head, "Not really. He's usually pretty good about knowing where his keys are."

"Lucky him," Lynn got up, "Do you want something from the fridge?"

Elena shook her head, "I'm fine."

Lynn opened the fridge to grab a bottle of water, when something blue caught her eye in the vegetable drawer. She opened it, and lo and behold, there were the keys. "Francisco! I found the keys!"

Francisco came out of his room, "Where were they?"

"In your vegetable drawer," she responded.

"How the heck did they end up there?"

Lynn shrugged her shoulders, "So can we go now? I promised my dad that I was going to help him with his turgooseon."

"His what?" asked Francisco and Elena in unison.

She turned the two around, and dragged them towards the truck, "Not important. C'mon! Let's go!"

"Alright, now who's going to be there?" asked Francisco, as everyone got into his truck.

This was the first time that Lynn invited both him and Elena to meet her family, and Francisco was clearly nervous. He knew what this really was; it was Lynn's chance to tell her whole family about them in one fell swoop, at least that's what he thought. Frankly, he was nervous. He hasn't seen these people in years, he barely knew them, and now he and Elena were intruding on their dinner.

"Just my parents, nieces, nephews, in-laws, and sisters. Jeez! What's so hard about that?"

"How many people did you say that was? Twenty? And I'm not even including your missing brother, sister-in-law, and niece, plus I haven't met them all, or seen them in over a decade. Lisa is the professional mechanic, right?"

Lynn raised an eyebrow, which he couldn't see, "Twenty-one," she corrected, "And seriously? All these years and you still can't remember which sister is which?"

"There were a lot of you girls, cut me some slack," he defended himself. "At least I knew Lincoln right off the bat."

"Who doesn't?" Lynn muttered under her breath. She looked at the rearview mirror, and saw Elena staring out the window, "Do you want me go over the names with you again?"

Elena turned to Lynn, and shook her head, "No, I think I got it."

"She gets it," Lynn pointed out to Francisco.

"She's younger and smarter, plus she's never met all of your siblings as a crowd."

"All I hear are excuses," she playfully teased.

* * *

_Juan stepped out of the garage with a laundry basket and called out his youngest son, "__¡__Pancho, llevate la ropa adentro!"_

_Francisco sighed. He hates being the main child that his dad calls upon to help him around the house when his parents are fighting. He looked at the basket on the floor of his kitchen and took it his parents' room to get it sorted._

_The house would always get quiet whenever his parents fought, but it was quieter when his dad would get mad. He would always give the silent treatment to whoever angered him, while also ignoring their presence. At the moment, his dad was upset with their mom, and that meant that the three brothers are called upon to relay messages between the parents._

_Chuy passed by and saw his youngest brother carrying the laundry basket and he helped the boy towards the parents' room._

"_How much longer are they gonna be fighting?"_

_Chuy shrugged his shoulders; usually these sorts of fights would be for a few days followed by dinner and then everything goes back to normal until the next fight. _

"_Just be patient, mom and dad will be fine before you know it."_

_The older brother set the basket down and walked away while Francisco began to match the socks, fold their underwear, and put everything in its own pile._

_Kiké passed by, "What the heck are you doing?"_

_Francisco turned around, "Putting the laundry away, like dad said."_

"_Menso, dad told you to bring the laundry basket in, not put it away."_

_Francisco took a ragged breath, and went back to putting the clothes away. Chuy watched his two brothers; it's bad enough that their parents made the house tense, now Kiké was pushing Pancho's buttons and about to make the house more tense than it already is._

_Chuy took a sock and began to help his brother, to hopefully take his mind off of his brother's words. Rather than leave, Kiké watched the two of them work._

"_You know you can help, right?" Chuy asked._

"_No one told me to fold laundry; I wasn't even told to bring it in."_

"_Just help," Chuy told Kiké._

_The three brothers silently worked putting away the laundry basket's contents. Usually when the house was tense the boys made an effort to keep themselves from rocking the boat, but usually one of them, frequently Kiké, would get fed up and inadvertently make things worse._

_Kiké turned to his younger brother, "You know why they call you to help with the household stuff, right?"_

_The seven-year-old shook his head and Chuy was about to stop him from speaking, but Kiké started, "Because you're the baby."_

* * *

Elena looked out the window and saw the two-story house in front of her; her heart was pounding in trepidation. This was the first time meeting these people and she wasn't exactly too sure about what to expect, aside from chaos.

'_Twenty-one people…that's a lot…'_

The three stepped out of the truck and walked up to the front door, Lynn stopped and took a deep breath, before knocking on the door.

No one answered.

Lynn tried again, and again, no one answered.

Francisco noticed the doorbell and pushed the button, and before Lynn could warn him a shock ran up his arm and he yelled a bit, "What was that!?"

"Guess mom and dad still haven't fixed that doorknob," she said while giggling a bit.

"That's not funny," he told her.

It was, but in the spirit of the holiday, Lynn agreed and stopped laughing.

A muffled voice could be heard from inside telling the house that the group arrived.

Lily opened the door, "Happy Thanksgiving, everyone!"

The three walked inside, and Elena and Francisco took in the sights and smells of the holidays. Usually, when the two celebrated alone, Thanksgiving was a much more simple affair, but with the house filled with the smell of cinnamon, turkey, and pumpkin; it felt more true to the holiday.

Lynn yelled out to the house, "We're here!"

Soon the father and daughter where they were greeted by all of the family members and somewhere in the mix Elena and Francisco started losing track of who was who, who they greeted, and how much time had passed since they entered the Loud residence.

Francisco and Elena took a seat on the couch, and tried to regain some sort of composure after the ordeal they just went through.

"That was…something," he told his daughter, who only responded with a nod. Despite having some sort of experience with their own family, it was never as joyful, close, and chaotic as the Louds were.

"There you are, we need your help in the dining room, Francisco," Lynn said, as she pulled him up from the couch.

"With what?" he asked.

"We need a judge," she said as she forced him off of the couch, "Can you believe that my dad thinks that he can take me down in a cooking competition? I mean, I know he's a pro chef, but competitions are where I shine," she bragged.

Francisco sighed and took a deep breath. He quickly turned to Elena, "You can go play with the kids if you want, you don't have to stay here watching the parade."

Elena nodded, but stayed put as Lynn dragged Francisco, "You gotta see what I have in store for you guys," she yelled towards the kitchen, "It's gonna take my dad down!"

"It never hurts to dream!" Lynn Sr. yelled back at his daughter.

The colorful parade continued on the screen. She wasn't much of a fan of watching parades, but it was better than going outside with the other kids. The sound of screams from the kids as they played and fought with one another could be heard from inside, and Elena isn't comfortable with that sort of roughhousing.

"Are you okay?" a voice asked from behind, "You look a bit frazzled."

Elena turned around and saw Lily, who moved to take a seat. The younger girl nodded her head, "It was…just a lot to take in."

"I bet," Lily said before the two sat quietly in silence. "It's been a while since we've met people who haven't met all of us at once, so we sorta forgot what it's like."

Elena nodded and stared at the tv. She glanced over at Lily, who also looked bored. "Would you like me to change the channel?"

Lily shook her head, "No, no…unless you want to."

Elena handed the remote to Lily, "It's no big deal. Besides, there's nothing good to watch anyway."

Lily nodded in agreement, "Tell me about. It's usually either this or holiday specials or some football game." Lily turned to the tv and saw a cord from her game console stick out. She was tempted to pull out the game, but Mom made her promise that she couldn't; especially since all of the kids would try to come inside to play.

The two sat in awkward silence. Neither one knew what to say, other than pleasantries. The parade continued on the screen and both were just mindlessly watching the screen.

"So…" started Lily, "Do you want to go outside?"

Elena shook her head, "Not really. It seems a little crazy outside and–" a crashing sound was heard from outside, followed by Lori's muffled yells at one of the kids, "and that's sort of why I'd rather stay indoors."

The blonde woman smiled, "Not a wild child, huh? So you are the more responsible type."

"I guess, my grandma thinks it's because I don't have any siblings, so I get both of my parents' attention."

"Aww does that get lonely?" Lily asked the girl.

Elena nodded, "A little, but that's what school friends and cousins are for."

"I guess…it just sounds strange, since they usually leave at the end of the day instead of having someone always around."

Elena couldn't relate, but she was curious; she's wanted a sibling. A younger sibling, or two, would be nice. They could share memories together as adults, play together, even getting into silly arguments over nothing. Yes, it is romanticized, but Elena didn't care. However, the girl wasn't jealous of the Loud siblings. Its one thing to have a sibling, but growing up with ten other siblings had to be pretty challenging.

"True, but I guess I'm just used to it, I mean you're used to all of your siblings, right?"

Lily opened her mouth to say something, but she tried to think of how answer. The problem with being the youngest in such a large family means that she doesn't remember her experiences with everyone under one roof. Her earliest memory is from age five, and by that point her two oldest sisters were gone and in less than a year, the next three were gone.

"Not really, when I was growing up it was mostly me, the twins, Lisa, and uh…Lucy, so I hardly grew up with all of my siblings either."

"Does it get weird?"

"Kinda, I mean, I think they still see as the little girl they knew when they each left the house."

"What do you mean?"

Lily got up from her seat, "C'mon I'll show you."

* * *

"_I'm not a baby!" Francisco declared._

_Chuy sighed. He hates when this happens – Kiké makes some snarky comment at Pancho, who throws a small tantrum because he's getting teased. While he was normally good at defending his baby brother, the fighting between the two youngest was becoming more annoying as time passed._

"_You're right, I meant that you're the little girl mom always wanted," Kiké teased._

_Francisco was about to push his older brother, before Chuy got between the brothers stopped the youngest's attack. He turned to Kiké, "What the hell? Can't you leave him alone for one day without getting into a fight with him?"_

"_Oh c'mon, it's fun, and it's not like you don't remember how mom was hoping that the little baby would be a girl," he said while staring at Pancho._

_Chuy stayed quiet. He knows what Kiké was talking about; when their mom was pregnant with Francisco, she would always lead them through the baby section in stores and gush over the girl clothing and pink accessories that she hoped to place on her 'daughter', and then Pancho came along._

_Kiké got in Chuy's face, "That's how I know I'm right," he said with a sly smile._

_Francisco looked at his eldest brother, waiting to see if he would say that his other brother was wrong, but he didn't say a word._

_Alicia walked in to see her sons putting away the laundry, "__¿Ya mero terminan con la ropa? Me tengo que cambiar."_

"_Ya mero," responded Chuy._

_Francisco grabbed his clothes and asked his mom, "__¿Donde van?"_

"_Dice tu papá que vamos a ir a comer. Mientras estamos a fuera, quiero que te portes bien, y hagas lo que dice Chuy, __¿Entiendes?"_

_Francisco nodded his head, and noticed Kiké mouthing out the 'baby' to his brother. Francisco stuck out his tongue and Alicia reprimanded him, "Pancho, no seas grosero," she turned to Kiké, "y tu tambien, Enrique. Quiero que se porten bien. ¿Entienden?"_

_The boys nodded and together said, "Si."_

"_Bueno, salganse," she said as she kicked the boys out of her room._

* * *

Francisco didn't know why he got roped into being a taste tester, but he didn't have a choice as he sat in the middle of the kitchen. At the moment, he looked at the two who were competing for nothing more than bragging rights in a cookie-making competition.

"So what kind of cookie should we make, Francisco?" asked the older chef.

He shrugged his shoulders; Francisco wasn't too overly picky cookies, but he didn't expect to see himself as the judge for a competition between father and daughter, "I don't know, Thanksgiving or a classic, take your pick."

It wasn't much to go off of, but both Lynns took note of his suggestion and got started. Francisco watched the two and difference in their cooking styles couldn't be more obvious; Lynn is haphazardly tossing ingredients into her cookie dough, and her dad is carefully measuring out and making sure that he has the best ingredients for his cookies. Francisco sat there watching them occasionally bump into each other, or take silly little jabs at the other's cooking skills.

"You're going down, dad!"

"I'm sorry, who's the professional with his own restaurant? Me!"

"Restaurant, not bakery! Which means that I'm still in this!"

Lynn Sr. laughed, "Keep dreaming, honey."

Francisco watched the two playfully give the other a jab their baking abilities, but saw the smiles on both of their faces. When he was growing up, he always wished that his family life would have more like Lynn's, granted not the insane size, but more willing to spend time together.

Lynn Sr. turned around and asked, "How have you been, Francisco? I haven't seen you in so long, and Lynn Jr. barely told us anything about you and your daughter."

Francisco looked at Lynn, who was searching through the drawers, "I've been good, uh…" he wasn't sure what to say, "I'm sorry, Lynn mentioned us dating before today?"

She turned around upon hearing her name, "Yeah, I told them a few weeks ago. I didn't want them to make Thanksgiving weird."

"Why didn't you tell me? I was nervous at the thought of meeting everyone, and you already told them."

She shrugged her shoulders, "I thought I did. Besides, at least you didn't hear the screams."

"We thought she hung up on us from all the noise," he wrapped his arm around his daughter, "But, maybe tell him next time – honesty is the best thing for any relationship."

Lynn casually mentioned, "This coming from the guy who has the shiny new cowbell that he only keeps at work?"

"Well I better get those cookies in the oven!" Lynn Sr. loudly declared, before preparing the tray of cookies.

Lynn and Francisco laughed. The competitors placed their cookies in the oven and set the timer.

"How much longer?" asked an impatient Lynn, who turned on the oven light and stared at the raw cookies.

"Just a few minutes, be patient."

Francisco looked at his watch, "That's not exactly Lynn's strong suit, Mr. Loud."

The men chuckled. It was, and still is, true. To her, a minute is an eternity, especially when it comes to something as boring as waiting. Normally, if there was something to do, Lynn Sr. would send his daughter to do it to keep her from pacing around the kitchen, but he didn't want to set the table long before it was time to eat.

The timer went off and they both pulled their cookies out of the oven and placed the cookies on the cooling rack.

Lynn tapped her foot, "Well it's been long enough, time to eat," she said as she reached for one of her cookies.

Francisco checked his watch, "Lynn, it's only been two minutes."

"Seriously?! What the heck? Are you sure your watch isn't off?"

Francisco rolled his eyes, "I can even check my phone too if it'll make you feel better."

He pulled out his phone and she looked at the time; three minutes have barely passed, and she was ready to just get to the judging already.

"Just a few more minutes and when my turgooseon is out we can eat," Lynn Sr. said as he looked at the cookies, which were still cooling off on the rack.

"Do you both do this every Thanksgiving?" Francisco asked.

"No, but it is a fun way to liven things up in the kitchen," Lynn Sr. said. After tasting his daughter's leftovers from last year, he was inspired to revamp his cooking skills to match her creativity, despite Lynn not being as interested in the food as she was in the competition.

"I guess, but why am I the judge? Wouldn't I be biased towards Lynn?"

"Thank you," they both said, before playfully glaring at the other.

Francisco had a deadpan look on his face and smiled a bit at their antics. When the cookies cooled, Lynn took two of her's and sandwiched cream cheese and almonds between the two, "Behold! Pumpkin cookie sandwich!"

Francisco was hesitant to eat. Granted Lynn knows her way around a good sandwich, but watching her make desserts in a somewhat careless fashion made him made him fear the worst, but he decided to pull through for her sake.

"Wait! If you're doing something different than a normal cookie, so am I," Lynn Sr. declared, before grabbing some ingredients from the fridge and presenting Francisco with a small cookie parfait. "Behold my dessert, a chocolate chip and peanut butter parfait with dark chocolate syrup and pretzel crumble, bon appétit."

Francisco stared at the parfait, but ignored it in favor of Lynn's cookie sandwich.

'_And Lynn continues her sandwich making magic…'_

He stared at the cookie parfait. It looks delicious, but the idea of a chocolate chip cookie was beginning to hurt his head. He pulled out his medicine, "Can I get something to take this with?"

Lynn gave him a glass of water and a spoon, Francisco took water and swallowed the pill before taking the spoon and taking a bite of the parfait.

"It's good, but rich…"

"And Lynn's?" asked Lynn Sr.

"I did mention that I could be biased."

Lynn cheered and began her victory dance, "Oh yeah! I win!" she stopped dancing and asked Francisco, "Wait, you didn't just give me the victory because I'm your girlfriend, right?" he shook his head, "Oh yeah! You gotta know your audience next time, dad."

* * *

_Francisco walked over to the kitchen where Kiké was heating up some leftovers for dinner. He carried his school workbook in his hands and asked, "Have you seen Chuy?"_

_Kiké continued to stare at the microwave, "No, go check in his room. Now leave me alone," he said lightly pushing his brother away._

_The microwave dinged and Kiké took his food; ignoring his younger brother who went to search for his eldest brother. Francisco knocked on Chuy's door, 'Chuy, I need help with my reading homework."_

"_Can't Kiké help you?"_

"_He's eating dinner."_

_Chuy sighed and let his youngest brother in. This is the part he dislikes most about being the oldest, the one in charge, the one that his brothers turn to when they need something. He doesn't mind helping his little brother, but when Kiké, who is perfectly capable of handling a second grader's schoolwork issues, can't help, Chuy gets annoyed that has to stop what he's doing to help._

_The older brother invited Francisco into the room. He put his books away and placed his younger brother's workbook on the desk._

_Chuy read the question to his brother, "Based on the story you read above, do you think that the story is fiction or non-fiction? Explain why"_

_While Francisco is reading the story out loud and trying to think of his answer, Chuy quickly skimmed through the story, and the boy finally answered, "Non-fiction."_

_Chuy shook his head, "No, Pancho. Non-fiction means that the story was based on real things that happen; crabs can't start restaurants."_

"_They can on tv."_

_Chuy smiled, "That's a cartoon. Now write in your answer."_

_Francisco wrote in his workbook and asked, "Can you help me with my math homework after this?"_

_He sighed, "Sure, but let me go talk to Kiké first."_

_The older brother walked over to the living room, where his brother was watching tv. Chuy took the remote and turned off the tv._

_Kiké turned around, "Hey! I was watching that."_

"_And I was working on my project, now go help Pancho with his homework, so that I can finish."_

"_Hey, it's not my fault that I got my homework done early so that I wouldn't have to scramble the weekend before it's due. Now let me enjoy the fruits of my labor."_

_Chuy took a deep breath and through his teeth told his brother, "You're done with your homework, because I helped you with it, now help me by helping Pancho."_

_Kiké scoffed and took the remote from his brother, "Why? The spoiled brat can figure it out, I mean, c'mon, it's only second grade."_

_Chuy nodded, "Fine…" he turned to his room and called out, "Pancho! Kiké's gonna help you with your homework."_

_Pancho stepped out of his brother's room, "No! I don't want him to help me, he's mean to me!"_

"_Oh suck it up, mocoso. You act like this is new to you."_

"_Leave him alone and go help him, you act like it's going to kill you," Chuy complained as he pointed his brother towards the youngest._

_Francisco, seeing Kiké dragging his feet towards him, grabbed his workbook off of the desk and ran to his room; locking the door and taking his chances on working alone._

_Kiké turned around, "See! He doesn't want my help; now let me finish my dinner."_

* * *

"I try not to worry about things like that when it comes to my family, but it's kinda hard when everyone knows me as the baby sister," Lily said to the girl, as they walked upstairs, "And then when you have such large age gaps I feel like my oldest siblings look at me like I'm my nieces and nephews."

Elena gave Lily a confused look, "They do that?"

"Not on purpose, but sometimes I think they still look at me like a little kid, especially since I'm more interested in stuff like art, video games, and am good with the kids," Lily opened the door to her room and showed the girl her bedroom filled with gaming consoles and art supplies.

"Wow…" Elena isn't overly fond of video games, but her eyes began to wander towards the pencils, paints, and hand-drawn posters that Lily had sprawled around her room.

"Want to play a game?"

Elena shook her head, "No, did you draw these?" she asked as she pointed at the posters.

"Yeah, I've been thinking of some ideas for a video game, although I don't have much coding experience, but I'll probably use the characters in my…drawing book…where did I put it?" Lily searched her room for a said book, which she found under her pillow, "It's for an app, that I've been wanting to make."

Elena looked at the characters; the page is filled with random drawings of animals and little adventurers in a variety of different art styles. The girl is impressed at the blonde's versatility, and she silently wished that she could draw.

"You're a really good artist. Have you started making the app?"

"Sort of, but coding a game on your own is its own hell."

Lily turned the pages and Elena looked at the various drawings that Lily has done ranging from magical, to cute, to realistic.

"I started this book for fun, but soon it became cathartic."

"What do you mean?"

"I felt a little lonely in my teenage years, I had my parents, and some sisters, but sometimes I hear them say something that happened when I was really little, and I remember that I didn't grow up with them in the house. They went off to live their own lives, and I was in an increasingly emptier house, but at least I had Lisa and the twins."

"You forgot me," Lucy said; startling the two. "Here," she handed Lily and Elena a cookie, "Lynn told me to give it to you since dinner is still going to be a while."

"Did she tell you to give us a heart attack too?" the younger Loud said in a sarcastic tone.

Rather than respond, Lucy just handed Elena her cookie. Lucy stopped and stared at Elena through her bangs, but remained quiet, before smiling, "I sense something in you…"

"What?"

Lucy shook her head, "Never mind, I'm probably just seeing things." She turned to Lily and walked away without saying a thing.

"Rude!" Lily loudly said to her older sister.

"Does she always creep up on everyone?" asked the girl.

Lily nodded, her heart still pounding from the scare. She took a bite out of the cookie, "Dad went with pumpkin this time."

Lily noticed the girl staring at her drawings, "Lynn was right, you are the artsy type," she mentioned.

Elena's eyes lit up, "Yeah, I just started taking piano lessons, but I have an interest in art too."

"The museum kind? Cause the way she talked, I assumed that I wasn't going to win you over with cartoony doodles."

"She talked about us?"

"Lynn mentioned a few things, not that we wouldn't stop asking her."

When Lynn brought up the relationship to the siblings, the group chat exploded with questions; most of which Lynn ignored, but the siblings did get some basic information from her.

"I know that we asked her how long they dated, and she mentions how your dad didn't want to tell anyone," Lily casually mentioned. She noticed the girl's looking away from her and asked, "Are you okay?"

"It's nothing," Elena tried to convince the woman.

"You can tell me, I promise not to tell."

Based on her mentioning that the siblings kept asking about details in Lynn's relationship, Elena wasn't too sure if she should, but she is willing to give Lily at least an opportunity.

"Promise?"

Lily nodded.

"I'm just annoyed at him…" she said quietly.

Lily looked at her with sympathy in her eyes, "Why?"

"I'm upset that he doesn't tell me anything. I just found out less than a month ago, but he wouldn't tell me, even though I've asked and even though I've seen my mom date, but he assumed that I would throw a tantrum for something small," she took a deep breath, "Am I overreacting?"

Lily stared at the girl. She didn't know what was going on through her head, but regardless, she could sense the tension, "I don't think so…I mean, if he doesn't tell you anything, he can't be surprised that you'll get upset, although now that I think about it…"

The way Elena asked and the way Lily thought about it would mean that the girl got upset and that Francisco was right, but she isn't going to fault the girl for being upset at wanting to know a little about her own father's life. Even in the sibling group chat, Lynn was also secretive and mentioned keeping the relationship secret for over a year per his request.

"I guess I should apologize for being a brat."

"Eventually…that would be a good idea, but maybe sit down and talk to him…face-to-face?"

Luna's voice from downstairs grabbed everyone's attention, "Dinner's ready!"

* * *

_Francisco rested his head on the armrest of the couch as he faced the couch. He looked over at Kiké and asked, "Why do we have to be quiet?"_

"_Because Chuy has to finish his project, and he says that you're annoying," Kiké joked._

_Francisco knows that that part isn't true, but decided to not call his brother out on it, for Chuy's sake. He knew that as soon as he began to get on Kiké's nerves, hell can begin to break loose, and it isn't worth it for a little comment._

_The silence is beginning to eat at both brothers. For days the three have kept quiet, and now they had to continue all while flipping through channels trying to find something interesting to get their minds off of the boredom._

_Out of nowhere, Kiké started, "This silence is getting annoying."_

_Francisco nodded, "Why were mom and dad fighting?"_

_Kiké shrugged his shoulders, "I don't know, probably the usual – family, money, or always being stuck in the house. If I were you, I'd start hanging out with friends at their houses."_

"_Why?"_

"_For one, I get sick of seeing your face," Kiké joked, "but just get out of the damn house when this happens. I mean c'mon, do you really like sitting in your room avoiding mom's war path or dad's extra chores?"_

_Francisco shook his head._

"_Exactly! At least have an excuse or something."_

"_What about bringing a friend over?"_

_Kiké stared at his brother, "Do you ever wonder why we don't bring anyone over? Better yet, have you ever heard mom and dad mentioning family members?"_

_Francisco nodded, "A little."_

"_I bet you've heard a lot of bad things, right?"_

"_Yeah…"_

"_That's sort of why. Trust me, Pancho. People are easy to read once you know them, and before you know it, you'll know what they'll say and do before you even do a thing or ask for anything; it makes life so much easier."_

_Francisco responded and Kiké simultaneously said, "Yeah right."_

"_See!" Kiké responded, "I'm right, and I bet you can do it too if you think about everything you know about us."_

"_So what if you don't know someone?" asked the younger brother._

"_Easy, do what mom says – assume the worst in people."_

_It isn't the best advice to give an elementary schooler, but better that the boy learns the lesson now than waiting for his parents to talk about his friends behind his back or to his face. _

_Chuy walked in, and saw his two brothers sitting down quietly watching tv, "I'm done with my project."_

_Neither one did anything different._

_Chuy took a seat next to Pancho, "What's wrong with you two?"_

_In a snarky tone, Kiké responded, "Nothing, we're being quiet like you wanted."_

_Pancho shook his head and realized that there may be some truth to his brother's words. Chuy usually asks if anything is wrong with his brothers, and Kiké makes some remark that makes everyone think that he's annoyed._

_The door opened and both Juan and Alicia walked through the door._

_Chuy looked over at his parents, and asked, "__¿Dónde fueron?__"_

_Their mom passed by, and before she could respond Kiké and Pancho mouthed, 'a Manny's.'_

_The two brothers noticed each other and Kiké gave a small smile. Their dad was not very creative with their date nights and it always meant that the couple would go to the same place nearly every time._

"_Les trajimos arroz," Juan said as he set down a to-go container of fried rice on the kitchen table. _

_The three quickly ran towards the container and began to eat the food, without saying a thing; like always._

* * *

Lori is pouring champagne into the flutes, and she notices how quiet her children are being. All afternoon, she could hear her two oldest, but now they're quiet, and she knows that the kids are up to something when they're both quiet.

"Lynn!" she calls into the kitchen, "Can you finish pouring the champagne? I think I hear Isabella and Alfredo are up to something," Lori said as she handed the bottle to her younger sister.

"Wait! Hold on!"

"The non-alcoholic one for Lily, Lisa, and Francisco are in the kitchen," Lori quickly told her, before going off to search for her children.

Lynn looked at the table which was mostly set; place cards on every plate, the good plates and silverware set, and the beautiful centerpiece that Leni worked on all in place. Lynn poured the champagne into the flutes and began to place them onto a carrying tray. The family usually didn't make a habit of drinking alcohol with meals, but special occasions did mean that they would partake of one drink.

"I think I've got a little more room," she said to herself after placing the flutes. She placed the last flute on the tray and slowly walked them all to the table.

"LJ! LJ!" the sound of her father almost made Lynn lose balance, "Are you almost done? I'm going to need your help getting to the food to the table," the Loud patriarch said, trying to get Lynn's attention.

"Almost," she said taking the bottles from the counter. "Just give me a minute."

"And don't forget that the juice boxes for the kids are in the fridge."

Lynn placed the drinks and went to the kitchen to help her dad bring in the food. The family went to the dining room and each began to help to place the food to begin their meal.

Lily entered the dining room and saw the champagne by each of the seats, "Ooh champagne, do I finally get a chance to taste the real thing?"

Lisa passed by behind her with a robotic table with a screen tuned to Lincoln and Ronnie Anne, "Younger sister, I cannot fathom what reason you have to want to partake of an alcoholic beverage."

Lily shrugged her shoulders, "I'm just curious."

"Then continue to be curious," Lori said from behind. "You don't drink until you're twenty-one."

Lily whispered to Lisa, "Says the one who crossed the border on her nineteenth birthday."

The rest of the family took their seats and Lynn Sr. raised his glass, "I just want to thank say how happy I am to have nearly everyone here. Son, I think I speak for all of us, when I say congratulations on the birth of your daughter."

"Thanks dad, sorry we couldn't be there," Lincoln said from the computer.

With a recent birth, neither one wanted to make a three hour trip to go to a crowded house, so the new parents opted to stay home and see the Louds via screen.

Lynn Sr. began to tear up, "Well even though I don't have all of my children physically here," he tried to pull himself together, "I'm just happy to know that you're all here, especially since I have some exciting news–"

Rita interrupted him, "Honey, I thought that you were going to mention that later?"

"Oh, but I have all my children here and I think that maybe they'll have something to say about a joining me in the kitchen?"

The siblings all looked at each other. Their dad has offered all of his children jobs at his restaurant, but excluding summer jobs as kids and Lori's occasional bookkeeping, none of them have expressed any actual interest of stepping into a professional kitchen as cooks.

The Louds began to murmur between themselves, but none of them outright said yes to their father's offer.

Alfredo, who has some cranberry sauce around his mouth, spoke up from the kid's table, "Grandpa, do we get to take home leftovers?"

The other grandchildren began to speak up about their interest of joining grandpa in the kitchen; the comments clearly showing that the children were taking their grandfather's words literally.

"If you work for me, sure!"

The children stopped, and Luan's twins spoke up, "No, thank you."

The adults laughed, and everyone begins to mention everything that they are thankful for before the toasted as they took a sip from their glasses and began to indulge on the feast presented on the table.

With the Louds busy playing or cleaning, Francisco pulled Elena to the living room. After seeing the closeness between Lynn and her father, and even all of the other Louds, who were happily enjoying the holiday, Francisco decided to set her aside and talk about the elephant in the room.

Before he began to talk, Elena started, "Dad, I'm–"

"I'm sorry," he apologized. "I should have at least been more open with you," he sighed, "This is harder than I thought, you know my family, we never apologized for anything, but that's not the point…um…I know that you've mentioned your mom dating, and I know that you've never heard a thing about that part of my life, not that there's much to it, but," he took a deep breath and stared out the window looking at the children playing with their grandfather, "I definitely have regrets and there are definitely things–thoughts, that I wish I could take back," his throat felt as if it was closing on him.

Elena noticed anxiety in his eyes, "Do you want me to get you some water?"

"No, I think that I was afraid of the relationship not working, I mean it was easier when I was in school, but at some point life gets much harder and things begin to get tougher, anyway I'm rambling," he ran his fingers through his hair, "I didn't want you to get hurt if things didn't work out. I know that it's a silly excuse, especially when I could have just mentioned that I was seeing someone, but sometimes bad habits are really tough to break."

"What bad habit?"

"Doing things behind people's backs; it's a nasty habit you develop when you think you know what people will do and you're afraid of their reactions," he sighed, "and that wasn't fair to you. You didn't give me any reason to believe that you would react negatively or anything just because I started dating Lynn, and I should have at least had faith that you could handle this, especially since you're getting older."

"Well I was bothered, mostly from the secret, but I think you know that…and thanks for telling me why…" She paused. She wanted to ask what

"I don't…I don't expect you forgive me right off the bat, but I'll try to be more honest with you in the future."

She nodded, but decided not to push him at the moment. The anxious look in his eyes made her think that he's probably drained himself emotionally, and asking the questions that she's had on her mind for long is probably not going to help.

Elena pulled him into a hug, which he returned and suggested, "Do you think that it would be rude to ask for some more cookies?"

Francisco cleared his throat, "I'm sure that the Louds won't mind if we ask for another cookie."

The two walked to the kitchen, and on the way, Francisco noticed Lynn cleaning underneath the table on her hands and knees, "What are you doing?"

She continued to scrub the floor, "Just trying to get a stain out."


	15. Projects and a Pick Me Up

Lily and Lisa walked through the doors of their father's restaurant, with the latter transporting a wagon with milk crates filled with cans, "Salutations, sisters," she greeted them as she took her seat.

"Hello…" they said, curious about the milk crate that she was carrying. None of them said anything; they know that as soon as they ask a question to Lisa about a potential experiment, she'll make an attempt to involve them.

After one second, Lynn spoke up, "Alright, I can't take it anymore, Lis, what's in the milk crate?"

"Really, Lynn? You couldn't have waited until after I received my coffee?"

"Nope," Lynn said as she shook her head.

Lisa sighed, "If you _must_ know," she pulled out a can from the milk crate, "Do you recall about eighteen months ago when I mentioned that I was working on a new formula to combat insomnia?"

"You mean coffee?" Lily joked.

Lisa rolled her eyes, "No, I mean this," she pulls out a can, "Behold! A can of Lisa Loud's Insomnia-Prevention Energy Boost Brew, patent pending."

"You couldn't have come up with a less convoluted name?" Lucy asked.

"Well, _excuse_ me, I was too busy creating this revolutionary beverage to come up with a more marketable name," Lisa retorted. "Regardless, I brought these canned beverages with me today, so that I may ask you, my dear sisters, to try my concoction and give me your honest opinion about it."

The three sisters had a worried look on their faces. Historically, being a guinea pig for one of Lisa's experiments was just asking for trouble, and with a name like Energy Boost Brew, they could only imagine what was in store for them.

"I can sense some trepidation coming from all of you. Understandable, considering my history of asking you–"

Lily scoffed, "Asking? I highly doubt that any of us ever consented to being a human guinea pig for you."

"Anyway," Lisa continued. "You will not be the first testers of this product."

Lucy asked, "So you've already tried it?"

"No," Lisa responded, "I've have some local college students be the first taste testers, however I'm hoping to expand the market and want to see how my beverage will fare with non-college students."

"Were there any side effects reported?" asked Lily, who was not entirely convinced.

"Anything that we ingest has a risk of a side effect, Lana and Lola can't eat rhubarb, our late grandfather was not allowed to consume high quantities of sodium, so what doesn't have a risk?"

"Water?" Lynn commented.

"Water poisoning at high levels," Lisa remarked, "So what do you say? Would you be interested?"

The sisters shook their heads; Lisa avoided Lily's question and it concerned the three sisters.

"If I recall, Lily you've wanted to code a new video game and Lucy, you mention being exhausted from wedding preparations, am I correct? You both have big projects and I'm sure that you could both benefit from having a few extra hours in the day."

Lynn glared at Lisa, while both named sisters turned away; Lisa was right, they are procrastinating, but that doesn't mean that they were going to jump on board and try some crazy drink from Lisa's lab.

"What? You don't think that I have anything important going on?" asked Lynn.

"Do you? You haven't mentioned anything for quite some time."

"Is that really the point? You couldn't have made something up?"

"Why does it matter?" Lisa retorts, "I was just giving the first examples that popped to mind, there's no reason that you anger yourself over a comment."

Lynn took the can, "So what's in this stuff anyway?"

"Caffeine, vitamins, sugars, ginseng, ubiquinone," the sisters stared at her, "It's found in other energy drinks. Anyway, there's nothing that illegal in the can for persons under twenty-one years of age."

Lynn put the can back on the table, "No thanks." The other sisters agreed.

"How about if I agree to pay all three of you five hundred dollars for your troubles, would that tempt you a little?"

Lucy shook her head. Of course, a few hundred dollars don't mean much to her, but Lily and Lynn could use that money; the holidays just passed, but credit card bills still continue long after the cheer of Christmas and New Years'.

"No?" asked Lisa, "Then I guess there's no point," she said as she put the can back into the milk crate.

"Wait!" Lily bit her lip, she doesn't want to participate, but she doesn't see the harm in just one can, "Can I at least take the can home?"

Lisa nodded, "You may. Keep in mind that so long as you can produce proof that you consumed the beverage, I will still compensate you for the amount ingested."

"Are you serious, Lily? You actually want to participate in this experiment?" asked a shocked Lynn.

"Maybe…I don't know."

Lisa handed her younger sister a can, which only said Energy Brew A.

"You really couldn't come up with a good name could you, Lis?"

Lisa shrugged her shoulders, "I'll leave that to the marketing team." Lisa turned to her older sisters, "So what about you two, are you interested?"

They weren't, and they planned on standing firmly on that.

"Well, if you change your mind," Lisa handed each a labeled can, "Mind you that I'll send more to your homes during the course of the week, but you are under no obligation to consume my beverage.

Lisa hands each of her sisters a pack containing seven cans of her beverage, "There are three different types. I only ask that you take the drinks home, but you are not under any obligation to consume. Is that understood?"

Lucy looked at Lisa, "How can you be sure that we won't just pour them down the drain and collect the money?"

Before Lisa could answer, Lynn casually states, "She probably has cameras in both of our places," she turns out to Lily, "And she's probably has more footage of you than mom and dad do."

"Actually, I do not possess cameras in either of your homes," Lisa stated, "however, I will be providing you with an access code for a video journal and I will request that you consume the beverage in front of the webcam, so that I can ensure that you are not trying to swindle money out of my accounts," she turned to Lynn, "Understand?"

Lynn rolled her eyes, "Yeah, I understand."

Lisa turned back to the other sisters, "Hopefully you can complete the projects that both of you seem to neglect on a constant basis."

Lynn scowled at Lisa after hearing that remark again. She stares at her younger sister and makes sure that she finds a way to prove that she isn't just wasting her life.

Lisa smiled, _'At least I can always count on Lynn consuming it.'_

* * *

_Lynn stared up the ceiling, the shapes of she could see on the textured panels. When she stops to look at it long enough, she could see a game playing in her mind; she didn't know the players, or the team colors, or anything, but she didn't care so long as the game continued to excite her. _

"_Lynn," Megan called, but she could see that her roommate is still looking at the ceiling. "Lynn!" she called louder, but she still can't beat a ceiling for Lynn's attention._

_Megan grabbed a piece of paper and folded it into a paper airplane and tossed it towards her roommate, but missed. The sound of the paper plane crashing catches Lynn's attention and she looked down at the crashed plane. _

"_Really? A paper plane works, but I couldn't get you to look down?"_

_Lynn shrugged her shoulders, "What's up?"_

"_Is there a reason that all you want to do is stare at the ceiling–"_

"_There was a good game up there," Lynn said in her defense._

_Megan looked up but just saw the textured ceiling panel. She tried to imagine what her roommate was seeing up there, but she reasoned that Lynn is just trying to avoid something. All last year, she noticed that whenever something important was due or about to happen, Lynn would search for any reason to not do it._

"_What are you avoiding?"_

_Lynn groaned, "Nothing."_

_Megan didn't buy it, "I know you. What is it?"_

_Lynn sighed, "I've got a test to study for and I don't want to do it."_

_It was always a hassle to get her to study or do schoolwork last semester, and only Cesar seemed to have had the power to get her to sit still long enough to study, but now he's gone and Lynn is on her own. As she sees the jock's eyes wandering towards the window, it makes her wonder why Lynn chose to continue schooling if she has no interest in much aside from sports. _

"_Lynn…Lynn!" Megan calls out to her roommate, who once again has her eyes wandering away from the class slides. "What are you looking at?"_

_Lynn stays quiet as she closes her laptop, "Nothing."_

_Megan shook her head, "I swear how you studied last year is beyond me." She quickly realized her words and saw the look on Lynn's face, "Sorry…"_

"_It's fine. I'm over it," Lynn assured, "I had all summer, and besides I have other things to worry about than Cesar, who's off studying in New York."_

"_Okay…well do you want some help studying?" Megan offered._

_Lynn nodded her head. She didn't like admitting last semester that she needed help, but it worked out. She began to remember how even as a child her parents had to help her a lot with schoolwork, as well as teachers, friends, and even her siblings; which made her question how often she would have to use the school's tutoring services to get through classes._

"_Lynn," Megan calls out, "I can't help you if you don't look down at your own slides and know what you're supposed to be learning."_

* * *

Lynn begins stretching for her run. She was bothered by Lisa's words at the restaurant on Saturday, but despite telling herself that she should get over it, the words continue to bounce in her head. Running isn't anything out of the ordinary for her, and it definitely isn't a major project like a wedding or an app, but she has wanted to get some things done, especially after wasting away her twenties, "Don't have anything going? I'll show you who doesn't have anything going on. This week is going to be chock full of things to do!"

This is her opportunity to actually do something worthwhile. It's been so long since she's done anything worth mentioning to anyone and what does she have to show for it? Well, there's Francisco, but that's it!

She looks at the can and puts it back in the fridge, "Alright! Time to go," she told herself. Lynn picked up her phone and began playing an Italian lesson that she downloaded.

As she ran down the street, Lynn focused on the lesson playing through her headphones and her destination.

'_I am an athlete. I do not quit. I am going to be a freaking success!'_

The sound of an ambulance grabs her attention and she stops listening to the lesson as her eyes follow the flashing lights and siren. She checks on her phone and notices that short amount of time that has passed,

As she arrives on the shores of the lake, she checks her watch, "Yes! Eight miles and– wait, Italian! Otto…miles! In your face, Lisa! Wait a minute…Lisa doesn't care about stuff like this. Wait! What do I care what Lisa thinks? So long as I'm happy that's all that matters…"

She takes a seat on a bench as watches as the water splashing on the shore. She pauses the lesson and reflects on her small list of tasks; at best it's just a to-do list, "Project…project…I thought that I would be done with them when I left school, but nope."

This is where she wishes that she had more direction in her life; instead, she's sitting on a bench in the middle of a workday wondering what she could do with herself. Lynn thinks about her own personal interests, but unless the Tigers suddenly have an opening for a softball player that hasn't been playing against others of her caliber, there isn't much there.

"Dang…what else do I like? I mean, I like sports, but what else? Have I really gotten to the point where my day is nothing more than just waking up and doing the same old thing until I fall asleep?!" she asks herself out loud. "Not even a day, and I'm already finding this to be a chore. I mean, I already knocked out the first thing. Learn Italian? I do that once a week. Cook a romantic meal? I have a gist on that, plus I'd need to go on a date for that to work. Fix the hole in my wall? Eventually…"

Lynn taps her fingers on the lap and wonders what to do before deciding to continue her run. As she arrives on her front door, she asks herself, "Maybe mom and dad have something that could help me out with this self-improvement crud."

Lynn drives to her childhood home and knocks on the front door, where she is greeted by her mother, "Hey mom."

"Lynn," Rita said as she pulled her daughter into a hug, "what brings you by?"

She shrugged her shoulders, "I was trying to think of something to do, you know, besides sports and I was hoping that maybe I could find something around here."

"Well you father is out of the house, and I'm about to go meet with my publisher, but you're free to search the house."

"Neat. Is Lily around? I wondering if she wants to take a break and help me out for a bit."

Rita paused for a bit. Since yesterday, Lily has been acting differently and it concerned both parents, but Lisa stated that she has maintained an eye on her younger sister's well-being, "Well, she's upstairs if you want to go see her."

"Thanks, mom," Lynn said as she ran up the stairs to Lily's room.

Lynn opened the door and was greeted with the darkness and a pile of Moon Mist soda bottles by the door. Lily is muttering to herself as she quickly taps her foot, staring at a variety of ideas on her board.

The older sister walks up to her younger sister and looks at the same characters that seem to have Lily's attention.

Lily turns around and sees her sister, "Lynn! What are you doing here?"

Lynn looks over at Lily and pulls out a chip from her hair, "Just coming to check on you…what's up with you?" She notices the frazzled look in Lily's eyes, "You look like you haven't slept at all."

"I haven't…every time I try to sleep a new idea pops in my head, and I can't just sleep and risk losing it," the younger sister turns to the wall of drawings and ideas. "Do you know what it's like to feel like your brain is arguing with itself?" She holds onto Lynn's shoulders, "Like no matter how much you want to do something it just isn't working out?!"

Lynn chuckled, "Yeah, all the time, but eventually you get really into something and you sort of ignore things."

"Really? Because the thing I'm arguing with my brain is driving me nuts," she grabbed Lynn and led her to her idea board, "I'm not sure if I should go with something like one of those connecting games with a storyline or something along the line of an MMORPG? If I do the connecting game it'll be easier, but those are a dime a dozen and very, very uninspiring. Although, I could just do an easier adventure game, but then I would need a team of people and I can't afford to hire people and Lisa won't help me."

"Is she busy with another project?"

"Yes! I mean a video game should be child's play to her although maybe one of her little robots in her bunker could help too."

"They can code?"

"I don't know, maybe? I feel like Tentacle could…wait, I think there was a living toaster down there, are you hungry?"

"I could eat," Lynn agreed.

The sisters turned towards the door, and Lynn caught sight of an unfinished bird puppet, "Since when have you been into these?" she asked as she grabbed the toy.

Lily turned and saw the puppet in Lynn's hand, "That's a backup in case I give up on making the app and decided to be a puppeteer. What do you think about animation?"

"Isn't that harder than an app?"

"I don't know! I've never actually done it. How about stop motion is that easy enough?"

"Probably, but that sounds really slow and annoying."

Lily nodded, "You're right." She walked back to the board, "Can you help me pick a set of characters?"

"Do you have darts?"

Lily shook her head, and Lynn looked at the characters on the board; her eyes were drawn to the fiery princess, but at the same time her she would glance over at the three little ducks; the sound of a fly grabbed both sisters' attention and the two stared at it as it flew around the room.

Lily grabbed her book of drawings and tossed it at the fly and some of the drawings began to fall; leaving only the princess on the board, "Is that a sign?"

"I think so…"

"Let's go with it!"

The younger sister tapped her fingers on the computer, but after less than a minute, she groaned as she still had no idea what she is going to do the princess, "What do I do with you?!" she yelled at the photo.

"Dang Lily, calm down," suggested Lynn.

Lily turned around and began to point her finger at Lynn, "Don't tell me to calm down! I took a gap year for this, and still have nothing! Do you know how embarrassing it'll be to tell mom and dad that I wasted a bunch of time over nothing?!" Lily took a deep breath and turned around, silently telling herself, "Look who I'm talking to, the woman who's only useful contribution is opening jars and sports."

Lynn, who is looking at the drawing board, mentions, "What about an electric swamp?"

"What?" Lily asked, surprised that Lynn didn't seem fazed by the yelling or insult.

"For the game. Maybe one of those endless running ones?"

"I guess, but I was hoping for something better, not just a simple game," Lily whined.

"Yeah, well sometimes life sucks like that and you have to take what you get. It's not the best, but have some options with that first stepping stone, the last thing you want is to be wandering around mad that you ruined your opportunities.

Lily smiled, "Thanks, and sorry about what I said."

"What did you say?"

Lily shook her head, "Never mind, let's just get the story planned. I can only imagine what pops out of your brain."

"Oh yeah, because I'm the creative one," Lynn said sarcastically.

Hours later, the sound of knocking interrupted the two. Lily opened the door and is greeted by her parents, who don't appear to be pleased with their two daughters.

Rita asked, "Do you two have any idea what time it is?" Both sisters shrugged their shoulders, "It's three in the morning, you two have been cooped up doing who know what for nearly fifteen hours."

"Has it really been that long?" Lily asked, as she began to notice the lack of light from the window. "Wow, it has been."

The parents sighed. Ever since yesterday, Lily has been running around tired, but wired up like a rabbit; however, with Lynn around, it seems as if both rubbed off on each other and have been stomping, screaming, and making excessive noise, much to the chagrin of the other house inhabitants.

"Lynn, you can spend the night, but maybe it's best that you don't spend too much time together for the time being," their mother said. "And Lily, I want you to clean up you room in the morning."

"Aww," they both complained like young children.

* * *

_Lynn took her seat in the classroom. It's test day, and she's ready to knock it out of the park and do well; she's being honest with herself, she knows that she won't ace it, but at least getting a decent grade that she could bounce back from down the road is more attainable._

_The professor walks into the auditorium with a large box of tests and a group of teaching assistants, who are ready to hand the out the exam._

"_Everyone, please clear your desks except for a pencil," He grabbed a test and showed the class, "This test has fifty questions and you will have the whole class period to complete it. After you complete the test, you will be required to show either me or one of the T.A.'s your Mcard so that you can turn in your exam."_

_Lynn quickly pulled out the contents of her pocket as she searched for her school ID and sighed in relief when she spotted the card._

"_The T.A.'s and I will be walking around to make sure that no one is cheating and to answer any questions that you may have about the test. I wish you all good luck, and you may begin your test as soon as you receive one."_

_The teaching assistants grabbed a large stack of tests and began to hand them out to the students. _

_Lynn takes her test and looks at the first question, and sighed in relief, happy that she knew the answer. _

'_Easy! I got this!' she thought to herself._

_As Lynn reads the second question, the sound of the vents turning off distracted her; she stared up at the ceiling before briefly glancing down and seeing the students taking their tests. She grabs her pencil and stared down at the second question again; it's a much longer to read and partway through the first sentence, Lynn stops reading and moved onto the third question._

'_Just one question,' she thought, 'No big deal if I skip one, just come back to it. Heck, for all I know there's a hint down the road.'_

_She continued to this method for a few more questions, but the sounds of coughs, sneezes, and paper shuffling, kept taking her focus from the questions in front of her. She looks at her classmates and wonders how they are able to ignore all the noises around. _

_A T.A. whispers at Lynn, "Eyes on your own paper."_

_She nodded and looks down on the paper, 'Why do tests always have to be in black and white?' she wondered as skipped another long paragraph of reading._

_Lynn continues her method until she answers the last question, she goes through the whole test and counts how many questions she was able to answer on her own, 'Twenty?! What the hell?'_

_She looks up at the clock in the front of the classroom; those twenty questions lost Lynn over half of her test time, 'Four answer choices…I can probably get another eight if I just guess or something and that should be enough to get me a fifty, and then I'll just have to study harder for the next test.'_

_The professor wrote on the board, '40 minutes remain' and Lynn began to kick it into high gear to finish the test._

_Students were beginning to leave the classroom and every time the door opened, her eyes wandered towards the door, before snapping back down on her test._

'_Look at that,' she thought as she looks down on a question, 'all those words and just to ask a simple question. I'll be fine! Just a few more correct answers and I'll be golden.'_

* * *

Lucy tapped her pencil on the desk. There was so much to plan for the wedding, but none of it could start until she and Rocky decided on a date. She couldn't decide on decorations, send out invitations, or anything.

"A summer wedding is out," she told herself. "Winter's too cold, and Spring is too cheery," she shuddered.

Well, at least she had a season. "Maybe October…or is that too cliché?"

"Too cliché or just the right time to get great decorations?" asked Rocky, as he gave her a kiss.

"Trying to start planning the wedding," she said before pulling him into another kiss.

The sound of the door opening startles the two and they look at the front door, where Lynn is standing after letting herself in.

"I hope you don't mind, but I figured that Lucy might want some help," Lynn said, offering her services to her younger sister.

Lucy isn't sure what would possess Lynn to want to help with a wedding, but she's willing to accept her older sister's help; who knows, maybe she has some good ideas. Rocky gives Lucy one last kiss before heading out the door. The sisters watch him leave and Lynn turns around to Lucy, who vanished from her seat. The sound of a can opening startles the older sister and she hears her sister in the kitchen, likely talking into Lisa's video diary.

Lynn walks in, but doesn't see her, "What the heck? Where are you, Luce?"

"Right behind you," Lucy says, startling her older sister.

Lynn jumps up in surprise, "You have _got_ to stop doing that."

Lucy shrugs her shoulders, "Call it payback for startling us just now." She takes a seat at the dining table and opens up her laptop, "Do you really want to help me plan my wedding?"

"Not really, but mom and dad said that I can't go back to hang with Lily for a while, and Lisa's mean in blunt sort of way, so I figure you're my best option."

"You have a car, you can visit Lola and relive your college memories," Lucy suggested.

Lynn shook her head, "No way. All she'll be doing is studying or hanging out with her sorority sisters, you'll be more fun than her," she declared as she took a seat across from Lucy. "Besides, this is huge, you're gonna want some help."

Lucy was taken aback; she didn't assume that Lynn would be the type to want to help with such a thing, but if she's willing offer, Lucy is willing to bounce ideas off of her sister.

"We haven't decided on a date yet–"

"Seriously? Haven't you guys been engaged for a while now?"

Lucy stares at her sister, "I still hadn't sold my latest book at the time and he is still in medical school–"

"Then he goes off to do live in the hospital, right?"

"His residency," Lucy corrected.

"Then why did you guys get engaged and get a house? Won't he be busy or moving to that resident stuff?"

Lucy sighed, "Lynn, do you actually want to help, or are you just going to ask a bunch of questions about my fiancée's career?"

Lynn stays quiet and rests her head on the table. Lucy begins to type away on her laptop, and notices the bored look on her sister's face as she stares at the lines on the table.

"If he moves, then I'm staying here, and it'll be a long-distance relationship until he completes his residency, then he'll apply for jobs in the area. Do you think that you can find a florist that can make black roses?"

"Probably, although knowing Lisa she'll volunteer to make her own, remember the snapdragons she made once?"

Lucy let out a subtle laugh as she remembered her younger sister's attempt at botany, which literally ended with tiny little flames engulfing the garden.

"What about aster flowers?" Lynn suggested.

"What?"

"They're a symbol of love according to this website…but also daintiness," she scoffed, "Nah, you aren't Lola. Maybe a…canthus, that one means fine art and artifact, you like artifacts!"

Lucy looked over Lynn's shoulder and saw the word, "That's artifice, not artifact," she corrected.

Lynn searched online for the definition, "Found the definition! It means clever or artful skill; that describes you. And it also means an artful stratagem. What's stratagem mean?" Lucy is about to speak up, when Lynn interrupts her, "An artifice or trick in war for deceiving and outwitting the enemy; that sounds more like–"

"Lynn," Lucy calls, "Let's take it back to flowers."

"What about the venue?"

"We're getting married in the backyard. It's quiet and we have enough room for everyone."

"Wait, did you guys pick a date? If not then this whole thing is pointless!"

Lucy took a deep breath and stares at her screen. Hearing her sister took her back to her childhood years where she struggled to get a word in or struggled to stay on track without eventually jumping to another topic. Lucy knows that her sister means well, but she can't get any work done if she keeps changing the focal point.

'_Sometimes I wish that she could go back to being an athlete so that she can obsess over that.' _

The younger sister looks up and notices that Lynn has disappeared, "Lynn?"

"I'm in the kitchen!"

Lucy walks in and sees her sister taking out Lisa's can from the trash, "You actually took this stuff? I thought that you didn't care about the money."

"It never hurts, and it can help pay for something."

"I guess…you know what I just thought of?"

"No, Lynn, what?"

"Would you want your bats to deliver the rings? Can they be trained to do that or would it be weird because it'll be a daytime ceremony? I guess you can do it at night, but then the after party and leaving for your honeymoon. Oh! Have you thought about where you would want to go?"

"Lynn, can you go? Now," she demanded, fed up with her sister's energy.

"Jeez, you too? And here I thought that we were sisters," Lynn said, feigning hurt.

"We are, but maybe we can do this when some more family members around," she said through her teeth.

* * *

_Lynn stared at the screen of her laptop as she waited for her professor to post the grades from her first test. While she is aware that she struggled to study, she is sure that the questions that she knew outweighed the amount of questions that she didn't know._

_Megan walked into the room and noticed Lynn tapping her foot as she continued to refresh the page waiting for the grades to get posted._

"_When did the professor say that grades would be up?"_

"_He said today. I thought, hey, it's five p.m. and you said in class that grades are going to be up almost immediately to get it over with; well you're cutting it a little close!" she yelled at her professor through the laptop._

_Megan laughed, "That's what you should have told yourself when you were turning in your lab reports last semester."_

"_Those were a pain in the ass to do."_

"_And I told you how to do them, remember? Take notes on the teacher's in-class summary and rewrite them in your own words. You could have saved yourself a lot of trouble if you did that."_

_Lynn nodded her head and refreshed the page. The grade appeared on her screen and she loudly said as she lightly tossed her laptop, "What the hell?! I actually studied and only got a forty-four on that test?!"_

_Megan took a look the grade and pat Lynn on her back, "That's okay, let it out."_

_Lynn growled, but didn't say a word. All that work and it didn't do much good, granted she shouldn't have left her studying for the last two days before a test, but assumed that she would have earned a better grade than a lousy forty four._

"_Do you want to go to the gym and let out some of that anger?" Megan asked her trembling roommate._

_Lynn shook her head, "No. I just want to be mad for a bit and maybe get something to eat," she said through her teeth._

_The roommates walked to the dining hall and met up with Bryton. Lynn walked past him and grabbed a tray. He turned to Megan and asked, "What's with her?"_

"_She failed her test."_

"_I thought you she said studied?"_

"_She did, but she still failed."_

"_How bad?"_

_Megan didn't respond and Bryton figured that it had to be a horrible grade if she didn't want to talk about it._

_Lynn arrived with a large tray of food and angrily bit down on a buffalo wing, "All that work and for what? I mean seriously, what the hell is that?! I might as well not have wasted time studying!"_

_Megan tried to cheer her up, "It's not so bad, I mean, everybody gets a bad grade here and there._

"_Yeah, but if I couldn't pass that ding dang test–"_

"_You can study harder," Bryton mentioned, "or…you can let the stress out some other way." The girls both looked at him, "We're all nineteen, right?" They nodded, "And we've got access to a car, all we need is some money and we just go across the river from Motor City."_

_In a hushed tone, Megan chastised, "You want us to go to Canada to get a drink?"_

"_Well we can't if you take too long to think about it. Look, Lynn had a bad week, I've had a bad week, and I don't know about you Megan, but I think that we deserve to let out some steam. Besides, none of us have anything going on tomorrow."_

"_Nor do we have a car."_

"_We can rent one, all we need is about thirty dollars and we can quickly drive to and from."_

_Lynn finally spoke up, "What about passports? I'm not gonna get myself in trouble and lose my scholarship over a drink or smuggling."_

_Bryton sighed, "Fine, jeez, I just wanted to have a little fun pretending, but if you want some, just lend me some money." _

_Lynn sighed and thought about the proposition in front of her. Crossing the border would be impossible without a passport, so she is stuck where she is, and even if that wasn't a problem, carrying alcohol while underage back into the country would get her a jail cell or a fine, so she shook her head. _

"_How about this? I find a senior who's willing to look the other way for us? Would that interest anyone?"_

_The girls thought about it, and Megan spoke up, "Alright…but only if we all do it." _

_The two looked at Lynn. She didn't want to actually drink, but she didn't want to stand in her friends' way, and a little bit wouldn't be so bad to forget some of her other problems, "Alright…"_

* * *

**COME OVER  
I need your help  
And bring your tools too**

That's what Lynn's text said, but with work, he isn't able to just show up on a whim just because she asks. As soon as he clocked out and got a toolbox from home, Francisco drove to her apartment, and saw broken drywall accumulated in a trash bag on her front door.

He knocks on the door, and Lynn quickly opens that door, she's covered in dust and happily tells him, "There you are! What the hell took you so long? I texted you hours ago!"

"I have work, I can't just leave whenever I please," he said as he walked in and noticed that she seemed to have ripped out the drywall from her hallway. He turned to her, "What the heck did you do?!"

"I was trying to fix a hole in the wall, and I saw video online that I can do it myself, and it said that I have to remove any loose pieces…but they were all loose."

He can't believe that nearly the whole wall was loose, but he can believe that she got bored and pulled out parts of the wall or she completely misunderstood the instructions she read.

"Why didn't you just ask your landlord to fix the wall?"

"Because I punched the hole in the first place, and I didn't want to lose my security deposit and he's gotten mad me before and warned me to stop breaking stuff," she admitted.

Francisco looked at the damage, "And you think that fixing the wall by yourself would have cost you less than the original cost of damages?"

"Oh shut up and help me…please?"

He smiled and rolled his eyes, "Only because you said please." He walked to where the

"Alright, where's the replacement drywall?"

"The what?"

Francisco took a deep breath, "The replacement drywall," he said through his teeth. "Please tell me you bought it."

She smiles, "I did, I'm not an idiot, I bought the stuff at the store; it's in my room."

"Why is it in there?"

"I didn't want to block my way out the door in case I didn't finish this tonight."

"Where did you plan on sleeping then?"

"Yeah, I didn't plan that far ahead."

He pulls out his knife from his toolbox and removes the rest of the damaged drywall. Without looking at her, he asks, "So this isn't the first time that you've wrecked your apartment?"

"They've all been accidents!"

"Like?"

She rested against the wall and tried to recall, "There was the time that I broke into my own apartment from the balcony after forgetting my keys, broke a hole with a cricket ball, screwed up some plumbing for me and my neighbor, and you know, the usual."

He turns to her bedroom door, "Okay…well I'm going to go get the drywall–"

"Wait!" She stops him, "Let me get it, you're helping me out I should at least help."

"And the screws too," Francisco said as he stays put and waits for Lynn to return, "Can I ask you something?"

"What?" she responded through her bedroom door.

"Why did you punch this hole in the wall to begin with?"

She peered out of the room, "It was when I got mad at you."

"What did I do?"

She pulled out the drywall from her room, "It was when Elena told me that you didn't want to date."

He took the drywall from her, and scored it to fit on the empty space, "You know that I'm sorry about keeping it for so long, right?"

"Yeah…I thought that things were going well and hearing from her that you didn't say a thing kinda pissed me off…"

He nodded, "I get it, and I'm–"

"Don't say it," Lynn interrupted. "Now what's the next thing we – I mean, you need?"

"The drywall compound. If you want you can mix it yourself, it just has to have the consistency of peanut butter."

"Got it," she said as she walked to get the materials for him.

She began to mix the compound, "You know, I thought that this would be much easier to do, you know, fixing the wall, but dang, it's hard."

It isn't, at least to him, but Francisco isn't going to make her feel bad about the repair. He let her apply the compound in an effort to let her practice, and as she's doing so, he asks, "Is there any reason that you chose today to fix your wall?"

She looks at him, "Kinda, but I needed it fixed, and it's nice to see you between the week, c'mon, do I really need an excuse to see mio…dang, I forgot the word, ragazzo! Wait, I think that means boy," she hands him the compound and searches for her phone to check her Italian.

Francisco watches her walk away and finishes the job quickly as he walks after her. He notices her sitting on the kitchen counter listening to a lesson.

"Seriously?"

"Si. Although, I think I'll probably switch Spanish. It seems easier since I just need to remember stuff from school and you can help me."

"I hardly speak it and you want me to be your tutor? No way."

"Aww serio? Wait I think I forgot a part, let me go back to Italian."

"Lynn, I want to finish cleaning up and I want to go home."

She sighs and puts her phone away, "Fine, I'll be good." Lynn handed Francisco a bottle of water, "Thanks a lot for helping me out with the wall."

He nodded his head, "You're welcome, but maybe next time call me before you try a home improvement project like this."

She laughed, "Fine, but I'm not making any promises."

He smiled and checked his watch; it's getting late and he needed to get going, "Do you need help cleaning up? I can stay to help, but I'll have to leave in a little bit."

"What? Where are you going?"

"Home, I've got work tomorrow."

"You don't want to stay?"

"I'm sure you'd like that, but I don't want to rush in the morning, I didn't bring a change of clothes, and I'm sure that you don't have anything that fits me–"

"Fine, forget I asked. I'll just clean up my apartment myself."

He turned and smiled, "I know what you're doing."

"What?" she asked, feigning innocence.

He sternly told her, "I really can't stay, but I will help you clean up a bit."

"Alright!"

"But clean up first!" he told her.

"Fine!" she groaned as she quickly pushed all of the excess drywall and materials into her room.

"I meant really clean up, not stuffing it under your bed," he told her as he approached her room.

He looked inside and noticed the mess that she made by pushing the mess further inside instead of out. As kids, he's been in her room, and while he's aware that she is the messy type that would rather have fun than do tedious work; as adults, he's only been in her room once, but he didn't recall it being as messy as it currently was.

"Do you have a broom and a maybe a shovel?" he asked.

She shook her head, "I have a broom and dustpan, but don't worry, I'll just push it back, so just move," she said.

He sighs, "Just pick up the pieces instead, and stop spreading dust everywhere and making a bigger mess."

"You just can't let me have fun, can you?"

"You can have fun, but maybe think things through before acting on impulse?"

"Fine," she said as she bent over to pick up the stray pieces of drywall and screws that littered her floor.

Francisco picked up the tools that she left on her bed, and as he made his way towards the door, he notices Lynn searching under her bed.

"What are you doing?"

"I think I found something down here," she said with her arm reaching out under the bed frame.

"Lynn, just finish cleaning."

She didn't listen and pulled out a small suitcase. She opened the suitcase and revealed that it is actually a turntable, "Wow, I forgot where I put this," she told herself.

Francisco looked at her as eyed the device. He never pictured Lynn the type to have a record player, normally her type of music is more in line with modern techno and dance music that gets the blood pumping, but seeing with the device made him curious. She never mentioned that she enjoys old time music, nor does she appear to be the type to want such a device for the aesthetic, so how it came into her possession brought up some questions.

She looks under the bed and pulls out a small box labeled 'Records', "Dang, I forgot that I had this. I thought that I left these at mom and dad's place."

"What is it?"

She looked up, "Remember my old sports buddy from when I was a kid?"

"Your old neighbor?"

"Yeah, well he died a few years ago, and when he did he left me some his things; it was mostly his sports memorabilia, but after his family boxed up his things I found this box and the record player. I told them, and they said that wouldn't know what to do with it, and let me keep it, and yeah…I forgot that I put it under my bed." Lynn looked through the records and an idea popped in her head, "When was the last time we danced?"

"Lynn, you're just trying to get out of cleaning up."

She pulled him closer to her, "You didn't answer my question."

He sighs, "The last we danced was prom night, I think?"

"Then we're long overdue," she declared. "Wait, I need to pick some music," she closed her eyes and pulled out the record from the box. She placed the record on the turntable, put the needle on the record, and quickly stepped towards Francisco before the song began to play.

Buddy Holly's _Everyday_ began to play and neither one could move. Lynn buried her face into his shirt; she looks up with a big smile on her face, she asked Francisco, "Why are you smiling like that?"

As he tries to hold back a laugh, "Me? What about you?"

"I'm only smiling because you're smiling," she lied.

Neither one moved to the song and as the lyrics made way for the instrumentals, the two began to laugh and Francisco asked, "Why does it sound like Christmas music?"

Lynn shook her head and pulls him closer, "I don't know, but c'mon, let's dance a bit before the song ends."

* * *

_The two girls waited in their rooms. Bryton assured them that he would meet them after his senior friend procured their drinks, but as time passed, the two were getting a little worried. Doubt began to settle, but neither one is ready to admit it to the other. _

"_I can't believe that you actually agreed to this, Lynn."_

_She shrugged her shoulders, "I'm pissed off from that dumb test, so I needed something to take the edge off."_

_Normally, she would go to the gym, but that hasn't worked since end of last semester, so the she settled on something that other students have done to take the edge off after dealing with stressful tests – drinking. It's only one night and so long as they weren't too rowdy, they won't get caught and would only come out with a hangover the next morning._

_The two girls continue waiting for Bryton to knock on the door and Lynn begins to incessantly tap her foot waiting for him to arrive. She couldn't believe that she is actually going to do this, but what's the point of college if you don't try something new; last year, she broke into a bell tower…she stopped her train of thought and stared at the door. _

_Bryton knocks on the door, and Megan lets him in, "About time, I felt like I was sitting around waiting with a woodpecker."_

"_Ha ha," Lynn laughed sarcastically, "So what did your friend bring?"_

_Bryton quickly closed the door and pulled off his duffel bag to reveal three large bottles of alcohol, "One for each of us," he said as he handed each of them a bottle._

_The girls were a bit intimidated. At best, they only wanted to drink one bottle between the three of them, not have one entirely to themselves. Bryton hands each of them a bottle. He and Megan open the bottles and clink their bottles._

"_To forgetting bad grades," Bryton declared._

_Lynn stares at the bottle. Her friends are already taking sips, but she can't bring herself to actually start. She hears her parents, her siblings, her friends back home, her teammates, and her coach telling her no, but she begins to scream in her mind. She bites down on her bottom lip; it was much easier when training and working out helped her deal with her anger and frustrations, but nothing is going to help her when she can barely get her act together. When she was younger, she assumed that she would have some sort of grip on herself by this point, instead she feels like a helpless child that has to throw a tantrum to get someone to listen…but then she can't do that, everyone is too busy…_

_She grabs the bottle and takes a large swig; attracting the attention of her friends._

"_Dang Lynn, slow down," Bryon warned. "You want the bottle to last you more than an hour, right?"_

"_I'm fine. I mean, I'm just trying to catch up with you guys," she assured them as the warm sensation began to flow down her esophagus._

_Bryton chuckled, "I think you passed us," he said as he placed his bottle near her's and pointed out that she has consumed more in one go than he has._

_Lynn pressed her forehead on his, "Then you better catch up to me," she giggled._

_Megan shook her head, "No, but maybe we should slow you down," she suggested, as she looked around the room for something that they could use to distract her._

"_Look in my bag," Bryton said. "I might have something that could help."_

_Megan searched through his bag, and found the bag that the drinks came in, a stack of cups, and the receipt; she scanned the prices, "Bryton, your friend didn't upcharge you for buying this stuff for us?"_

"_He did."_

"_Well I don't see it on here."_

_Bryton sighed, "Don't worry about it, now start setting up, I wanna see how good Lynn would be at beer pong."_

_Lynn spoke up, "This isn't beer, though."_

_Bryton pat her head and helped Megan set up the cups. He hands Lynn a ping pong ball, and she immediately tosses it into a cup. Both looked at her, somewhat surprised that she made it so easily; they hand her another ball, and she sinks it in again._

_Megan suggests, "How about you go a little further back?"_

_Lynn complied and still managed to sink the ball into the cup. Each time, the friends came up with more seemingly difficult shots, but the athlete kept succeeding at the game._

"_Dang," Megan started, "I thought she was kidding when she said that she doesn't lose games."_

_Lynn laughed, "Like I'd lose at a game like this."_

_A light bulb went off in Bryton's head, "How about a moving target?"_

_Neither a cup on a skateboard or Bryton zigzagging through the room or blindfolding her managed to stop Lynn from making the shots._

"_We should have filmed all of this," Bryton suggested._

_Megan sarcastically responded, "Oh yeah, because a sophomore drinking while doing little shots is worth expulsion or some punishment."_

"_I wasn't going to post it."_

"_Better this night never exists on tape."_

"_Finished," Lynn declared at her friends, who are stunned that she finished the whole bottle before they did. They knew that she didn't want to drink, and while it probably isn't the smartest way to help her get over her anger at failing a test; the two were happy that Lynn was able to forget for one night._

_They noticed Lynn looking at the bottle with a smile on her face, as she raised it, appearing as though she's about to spike the bottle into the ground like a football._

"_Don't!"_

* * *

Lynn and Lucy walk into their father's restaurant together, talking about the week's events. In the older sister's hands were all seven cans that Lisa gave to Lynn last week, which she plans on handing back to Lisa.

"You didn't drink a single can?"

"No," Lynn responded, "Why is that so hard to believe?"

"I don't know…maybe I've been away from you for too long."

The two sisters notice Lisa sitting at their usual table alone. Normally, she and Lily would arrive together, but neither one made a big deal assuming that Lily was either with their father or in the restroom.

Lisa looks up from her laptop, "Greetings fifth and seventh eldest siblings. How are you doing today?"

Lynn hands the cans to Lisa and sits down across from her with a smug smile on her face.

"You weren't interested in the money or advancing my research?"

"Oh gee when you put it like that," Lynn said sarcastically. "No, but I still managed to get something done this week."

"That's good," Lisa says with little interest, "Lucy, how was your week?"

Lynn interrupted, "Hey! I wasn't done."

"I couldn't tell, besides I have no interest at the moment, since you did not participate in the experiment, but we can converse with you after Lucy explains how her week went."

Lynn looks at both sisters as Lucy describes the week, the older sister isn't listening. She gets up from her seat and walks into the kitchen where she sees her dad chopping vegetables, then she walks into the restroom, hoping to find her youngest sister.

"Lily? Are you in here?"

No one responded, and Lynn returned to the table and asked Lisa, "Where's Lily?"

"After a week of no sleep, our youngest sister has succumb to her exhaustion and is currently sleeping in her bedroom," Lisa pulls out her laptop and shows the two sisters, "She appears to have only consumed one bottle and I'm currently monitoring her vitals. Lucy will you be available to drive me home? After out meal, I have to input the information that you and our youngest sister provide, and I wish to do so in a timely manner."

Lucy nods and asks, "Sure, but why does Lily's room look like it was hit by a tornado?"

Lynn quickly responds, "She kept bouncing around from idea to idea and couldn't make up her find for days, after that, it seems like she stuck to something and kinda forgot everything else."

"Why does that remind me of you?" Lucy joked.

* * *

**Buddy Holly's _Everday _always seems to make me smile every time I listen to it after a lot of time passes, but the first time I heard it and the first time others hear it, they get a little smile on their faces, so I thought that I would have a little fun and include a little bit of real life in the chapter.**

**Give it a listen and hopefully you'll get a little giggle out of it too**

**As always, thank you for reading**


	16. The Future and a New Path

Francisco stares out the window as his older brother drove; his hands are clenched into tight fists, as the piece of paper he gripped in his began to crumple, his lips are quivering and his eyes begin to sting; he doesn't know what he's going to do, but he had to think fast, especially when he has no time to waste.

Chuy turns his head over to him, "Pancho are you okay?" The elder brother knew the answer, but it couldn't help but ask. If you asked him, his younger brother had this coming, but seeing him silently breakdown was painful.

Francisco shakes his head, but remains silent.

"Look, if you need someone to talk to, you know that mom and I are here, right?"

Francisco nods.

"Even if you need some…you know…" Chuy doesn't want to say it; he knows that Francisco hates asking for help, but he know that his younger brother is going to need it.

Chuy pulls into Francisco's driveway, and let his brother get out of the truck. The younger brother walks away without saying anything to his older brother, except for a simple thanks. Chuy keeps his eye on his brother as he walks through the front door. He sighs at his brother's stubbornness, but decides that forcing him to talk isn't going to do him any better, so rather than egg him on; he will wait until Francisco comes on his own.

Francisco crashes on the couch. He stares up at the ceiling and keeps his eyes fixed up at the tiles as he remembers what happened that morning. He didn't think that he it would happen, he always went in and did his work as well he could, and now he's sitting in the dark trying to think of what he's going to do.

The sound of the door opening snaps him from his trance, but the pain from laying on the couch in the same position keeps him from getting up to see Lynn, who was recently been making more frequent trips to his home after work.

"Hey, Francisco! I hope you don't mind that I used your spare key to get in," Lynn says out loud in the dark house. "Where is he? He's usually home by now." Lynn walks to the living room and turns on a light, "There you are!" she exclaims upon seeing him, "What are you doing sitting in the dark?"

Francisco shakes his head, his throat hurts at the thought of speaking about what happened.

She notices the pained look in his eyes, "Are you okay?"

He nods his head.

Lynn doesn't buy it. She takes a seat on the floor, and asks again, "Francisco…are you really okay? What happened?"

With a strained voice, he says, "I don't want to talk about it right now…"

"Well you're in luck! I can stay as long as it takes."

Francisco turns towards her. He knows that she is going to stubbornly stay by his side until he says what is bothering him, so he took out the crumpled piece of paper in his pocket and hands it to her.

She reads it, and he quietly tells her, "I got fired…"

"What!? Why would they fire you? You're the hardest working person I know!"

Francisco shrugs his shoulders, "I think they said downsizing or something…"

"That's crazy!" she said before she pulls him into a tight embrace.

She wished that she knew what to say, but she's never been in a position like this before. She wanted to kick the asses of the people who thought that it was a good idea to get rid of him, but that wouldn't solve anything.

Francisco stays still in her arms and takes a deep breath. He quietly stares out into space, as he waits for Lynn to say some sort of comforting words, even if they aren't going to solve his problems.

She lets go of him, and runs to the kitchen, "Give me a minute and we can figure something out."

He takes a seat and pulls out a newspaper as he searches for jobs in the want ads.

Lynn sets down a plate of food for each of them, "So…what are you gonna do?" she asks before taking a seat.

"I don't know…" he said before taking a bite. "I'll probably start looking for work tomorrow."

Lynn is taken aback, "What? Why? Take a little time off. Look, you run yourself ragged all week, the least you could do is take some time to relax. I mean, it doesn't have to be long, maybe a week."

"A week!? Lynn, I can't just take time off like that."

"Why not?" she asks.

He stares at her, "Why not?" he repeats, "I have bills–"

"I can help," she responds.

"No! You don't have to do that, and besides, I have some money saved up," he says as he gets up from the table.

As he walks away, she asks, "Enough that you won't go broke after a week?" He stops in his tracks. "Look, I'm telling you this because you need to hear it, take a break–"

"I do," he interrupts, "it's called the weekend."

"I meant a real one. When was the last time that you slept in, or had a lazy morning? And not just weekends."

He is about to speak, but pauses at the realization that he hasn't actually done so in a long time.

"Exactly, so take the opportunity to kick back, chill, go to the lake or the pool. What do you say, deal?"

He stops to think about it. It would be nice, but he shook his head, "I can't, I need to get back to work as soon as possible. I don't want gaps in my resume."

Lynn sighs heavily, "Seriously? You're freaking out about nothing. If you only got fired because of downsizing, I'm sure that there's someone at your old job that you could use as a recommendation, especially after so many years at that place."

He wants to find a rebuttal, but his mind was drawing a blank. She keeps looking at him, waiting to see what sort of excuse he would give.

"Fine…but just one week."

"Good! Now do you mind if I borrow some sleeping clothes again?"

* * *

_The sound of the P.A. system grabs the students' attention, a woman calls for Lynn to go to the counselor's office and the students look over at the athlete, who is scribbling away writing in her notebook. She isn't sure why she is being called to go see the counselor, but rather than ask, she silently grabs her things and heads to the office._

_Lynn knocks on the door of the counselor's office and walks into the office, "Hello?" she says to the woman, who is sitting at her desk waiting for her._

_Mrs. Anderson greets the girl, "Hello, Lynn, it's nice to meet you."_

_The girl takes a seat in the chair in front of her, "Am I in trouble?" she asks, getting straight to the point._

"_What?" asks the surprised counselor, "No, you're not in trouble, I just want to talk with you, maybe talk about what your plans are for after high school and how classes are going?" She pulls out a file with Lynn's name on it, "Do you remember the career aptitude test that you took a couple of weeks ago?"_

_Lynn nods her head. She somewhat recalls spending some time taking the exam, but she also remembers not taking the test seriously when it was presented to her; her teacher said it won't count towards her grade, so she took the opportunity to not worry about what how she answered so that she could continue her other assignments that she had neglected. _

"_Well I wanted to talk to you about your results, and I wanted to know if you had any questions about possible options that you may want to explore after graduating. I've got some brochures for colleges, but I also have some for trade and technical schools if you're interested."_

_Lynn has an idea of where her concern came from; when the students took the test, there were multiple little section that each had six choices and the students were able to choose as many as they wanted for each section; Lynn clicked on every choice and didn't bother to take the test seriously. She also figures that Mrs. Anderson is a bit concerned especially when you couple her strange test answers and her mediocre grades._

_The girl raised her hands, "It's fine, I already know what I want to do, I want to be an Olympian."_

_Mrs. Anderson nods her head, "Okay, that's an idea, but what else is catching your eye? I mean, surely you know that the chances of becoming a professional athlete are rather slim, and I want to you consider all of your possibilities so that you can start preparing for the next step."_

_Lynn sighs; this conversation reminded her of what Francisco said years ago about having a back-up plan, but she's happy with the path she's on, and heck she even wanted to try out for the Olympics as soon as she could. _

"_Lynn, I know that you're an athletic girl, your trophies and notes from coaches indicate that, but I know that there's a smart girl in you as well. I've seen your grades and I think that with a little push in the right direction, you can truly see your potential."_

_Hearing those words makes Lynn feel like she's talking with her parents, her sisters, or anyone else who has wanted to push her towards a more normal career path. She understands their concerns, but she's barely a sophomore, she can't imagine that her peers are already thinking about backup plans for their futures; Lynn just wants to dream a little longer._

_Mrs. Anderson pulls out some paper, "During the week, I'm hoping that you write down some potential careers, this way, we can work at finding some programs that best suit your interests."_

_Lynn looks at the papers, "But I already said what I want to do, why do I have to pick out some other careers?" _

_She feels her heart pumping as she waits for the words that she knows are going to come out of the counselor's mouth; she's heard them before from her older sisters, but now it's her turn._

"_It's good to have a back-up plan."_

_There it is – the words she dreads hearing. She isn't against it, but after spending her whole life dreaming of this perfect life, it feels like a betrayal to consider something else._

"_Are you interested in playing sports in college? If you are, you will have to take the SAT or ACT, have you signed up for either one of those tests?"_

_Lynn shakes her head, "No."_

"_Would you like to sign up for one of them? I can help you."_

"_Sure…but can we do it next week, you know, after I've had some time to think about my options and stuff."_

_The counselor grinned, "We can start now if you'd like. What are some of your interests?"_

* * *

The alarm sounds, and Francisco slowly gets up from bed. Lynn begins to turn beside him and he places his hand on her shoulder to keep her from getting up. He opens his mouth to let her know that he is just getting up for work, but he stops himself as soon as the thought runs through his head; he doesn't have anywhere to go. He promised her that he would use this week to relax, but he isn't sure if it's as easy as she says; for years, he has been used to waking up early and getting ready for work, but now he doesn't have to do that.

He rests his head back on the pillow, before grabbing the amber bottle from his nightstand. He stares at the bottle, _'I better ration these,'_ he thought before taking one with a glass of water.

He tosses and turns; trying to find a way to get himself back to sleep, but it's proving to be rather difficult. He already had a drink of water and he's accustomed to starting his day early in the morning.

"You know that I can hear you groaning," he hears coming from her side of the bed, before she gets up. With her eyes still closed, she asks, "Why are you up so early? I thought that you were going to take a week off before going on a job hunt again?"

He sighs, she wants him to relax, but he feels like a bundle of nerves. "I know, but it's going to take more than a day before I stop getting up so early."

She lays back down on the bed, "Then go downstairs, and tire yourself out or something…" she said before drifting back to sleep.

Francisco kisses her shoulder and went downstairs, "What to do? What to do?" It's too early for coffee and breakfast, and all there is on tv are crappy late night reruns or infomercials. Rather than stay cooped up in the house, Francisco steps outside into the backyard. The scent of the morning grass hits him, and for a brief moment, he forgets that he's supposed to relax. Francisco begins to pace back and forth trying to either tire himself out or at least calm him thoughts.

'_How do people do this? I get that some people wake up later for work, but retired people are okay with this?'_

He doesn't know why he is comparing himself like that, he isn't in this situation by choice, but it is his fault that he is here. His eyes begin to burn and his throat feels tighter as he thinks about what started all of this.

"Good morning Francisco," said Jackson, who interrupts his thoughts.

Francisco looks across the fence and sees his elderly neighbor, "Good morning," he responds, as he tries to clear his throat.

"My, I've never seen you in your pajamas at this hour," he glances over at his moondial trying to ensure that he has the correct hour.

"Well, I don't have anywhere to go so…" he couldn't finish his statement.

Jackson raises an eyebrow, "Francisco, are you okay?"

The younger man nods, "Its fine…they were downsizing…besides I'll find something next week."

The older man raises an eyebrow, "Next week?" For as long as Jackson has known his neighbor, he's almost compared him to a workhorse, so hearing that he is planning on taking time off between jobs sounds strange.

"Lynn suggested that I should take some time off to rest before getting back out there, but honestly, I don't think I can do that," Jackson opens his mouth before Francisco continued, "You wouldn't happen to know anyone who needs some sort of project done around the house, would you? I mean, you've seen my work, surely there's someone who needs a little help."

Without thinking, Jackson started, "Well I do have a friend who was looking for a carpenter to make him an arch for his daughter's wedding, but Francisco, why don't you take Lynn's advice and take the time off?"

Francisco was taken aback, "You too?"

"It wouldn't hurt. You could think of it as a vacation, even if all you're doing is staying home."

That was hardly a vacation if you asked Francisco, but then again how different is it from all the vacations he took growing up.

* * *

_Lynn walks into the cafeteria, and looks around for her friends so that she can relax and eat lunch without talking to the counselor about future plans. While she doesn't mind missing class, she doesn't like constantly having to talk to the counselor just because she's not entirely sure about her future, especially with the extra tests and work that she had to do. _

'_I just asked a few questions, why did you have to sign me up for another test?' she asks Mrs. Anderson in her mind._

_She spots Margo and takes a seat next to her as pulls out her lunch. Margo, who is seeing for the first time all day asks, "Lynn, where have you been?"_

_Lynn takes a bite out of her sandwich, "I've been with the counselor…again! I mean seriously, does she do this with anyone else?" She looks over at Margo, "Has she called you to talk about what you want to do after you graduate?"_

_Margo shakes her head and hands Lynn a napkin, "No, but we graduate in a little over two years, maybe she's trying to talk to all of the students and see what they may be interested in," she suggests._

_Margo isn't entirely sure why the counselor keeps talking to Lynn, and while she has heard of some students getting called in more frequently than others, she isn't sure of what the reason is behind some of them._

"_I guess," Lynn says as she takes another bite of her sandwich. She looks around and asks "Where's Francisco? His name comes before mine, maybe he's been called by Mrs. Anderson."_

_Margo pointed Lynn in the direction of the boy, who is currently eating lunch with a girl that they recognized in class. _

"_Why's he eating lunch with Mary?"_

_Margo raises an eyebrow, "She's his girlfriend. Don't you remember what I was like when I first started dating?"_

_Lynn sighs as she remembered what Margo was like when she first dated Elliot; aside from the mushy romance stuff, Lynn didn't see her friend as often as she was used to, now she has to deal with again from another friend._

"_So when did they start dating?"_

"_A week ago. Remember that he told us once after class one day."_

_Lynn nods her head in agreement, but can't recall when he actually mentioned it. She notices the two of them talking and when he sees her, Lynn waves at him before he is pulled into a kiss. He looks surprised by the sudden action and Lynn just looks away as she continues her lunch._

_Margo, who notices what just happened, asks, "Do you want to go eat outside or in the hallway?"_

_Lynn shakes her head, "Nah, I just wanna finish lunch before I have to go to class, besides," she points towards the administrators by the exits, "They're gonna want a good reason for leaving the cafeteria with our food."_

_Margo nodded, and remembers, "Don't forget that we have a test on Friday for English class," she reminds her friend._

_Lynn groans, "Maybe, I'll tell Mrs. Anderson if we can meet then, so I can have the weekend to study," she playfully suggests._

_Margo laughs, "Fine, but don't put it off like you always do."_

"_Hey! I've managed to earn some good grades, even if Lisa had to help me."_

_The girls laugh, but Margo does have a point; Lynn procrastinates studying and sometimes leaves it for the night before, but it's not her fault! She get excited to find out last minute news on her favorite teams before games._

"_Hey Margo…do you know what you want to do when you, you know, finish school and whatnot?" Lynn asks tentatively._

"_I think so, I'm sort of stuck on a few choices, but I'm still not completely sure which one I want to study once I get to college. I'll probably do a few General Studies classes, to really seal the deal, or talk to Mrs. Anderson."_

_Lynn sighs. If Margo had an idea of what she wanted to do, she is sure that her friends are probably already planning out what they futures. The thought of falling behind her friends again, stresses Lynn a bit, as she knows that she's not spending enough time thinking over things that her friends are already doing._

"_That's good…"_

* * *

Lynn stabs her fork in her eggs. Four days and he was still tense as ever; she hoped that the few days away from any sort of work would have calmed him down, but he seems to get worse by the day.

"Fifth eldest sister is there a reason that you are striking your breakfast rather than scarfing it down like a common barn animal?"

Lily snickers at the analogy, while Lisa rolls her eyes.

"I'm not hungry," she absentmindedly said.

The three younger sisters don't believe her; Lynn rarely comes to these Saturday morning breakfasts without her appetite, so to hear her say such a thing made them suspicious.

Lucy spoke up, "Does it have to do with Francisco?"

Lynn looks over at her goth sister, _'Does she know? Maybe. She does sneak up on people. Maybe she was around when I talked with him over the phone? This wouldn't happen if she spoke up. Maybe I should get her a bell or something that makes noise for her birthday. It's only a few months away. Definitely something gothic so that she'll wear it – wait! Focus LJ! What was I thinking about? Oh yeah! Francisco…'_ Lynn nods her head.

"Is your sex life suffering?" asks Lucy.

"What…?"

Lisa speaks up, "It would be rather difficult to be intimate with a man that one rarely sees over the course of the week."

"True, and he was pretty distant at Thanksgiving," said Lily as she remembered Elena mentioning the trait out to her.

"And every other time that we've seen him," Lucy mentioned, as the three younger sisters began to recall some instances that they ran into the couple; if you could call it that. If Lucy didn't know any better, it almost appeared like they were kids that were just hanging out.

Lynn turns to Lily, "What are you comparing us to Lori and Bobby? Of course no one is as annoyingly lovey-dovey as those two," she turned to Lucy, "And you saw us at the lake after training," Lynn pointed out.

"Intimacy is necessary to ensure a healthy relationship, and from what research books and articles have mentioned the act itself is rather–"

"Look! It has nothing to do with that!" Lynn takes a deep breath, "He was fired…and he still seems pretty bummed about it…" The sisters have a look of sympathy on their faces, as Lynn continues, "I mean, I get that he's used to working, but he's freaking out like he'll never be employed again, or that he's going to be homeless in a matter of days."

"Well, unemployment can be traumatic," mentioned Lisa. "Especially for someone that doesn't have a large financial safety net. However, I do believe that he should be able to bounce back."

"That's what I keep telling him, but he's worrying like it's the end of the world!"

A light bulb went off in Lily's head, "How about he goes to work for Lisa? She could use some help in the lab."

Lynn glanced over at her youngest sister, "Don't you need your job? Why are you trying to pawn it off on Francisco?"

Lily shrugged her shoulders, "I spend nearly twenty-four hours a day with Lisa, and I need a break. Besides, I need to focus on finishing my game and I can't babysit Lisa and do that at the same time, now can I?"

Lisa scowls at Lily's choice of words, but the younger sister gives the scientist a quick wink, "It wouldn't hurt…would he be comfortable receiving money for just keeping track of a meal log or other charts?"

"That's it? Why do you need him to do that? Can't you do it?"

"I can, but sometimes I get preoccupied with more pressing issues, and forget to consume my pre-packed meal."

Lynn shrugs her shoulders, and asked, "How much money, and what are his hours?"

"He would only need to show up when the charts tell him and I'll pay over a thousand dollars a week."

Lucy and Lynn are both surprised, "A thousand!? You paid them five hundred just to drink that crud a few weeks ago, but you're offering Francisco double just to for keeping up with a few charts?"

Lisa shrugs her shoulders, before pulling out a business card, "Let him know to contact me if he's interested."

Lynn nods and takes the card from her sister, _'Hopefully, this'll put his mind at ease…'_

* * *

_Lynn lies down in bed and tosses a racquetball towards the ceiling. After talking to Margo, she talked with her other friends, and each one has an idea of their plans; gap years, working, volunteering, and school, but none of that fits seems like a great fit for Lynn. She gets up from her bed and decides to talk to her sisters and get their input._

"_I guess I could talk to Leni," she looks at the time on her phone and realizes that her sister is about to get home from work._

_Lynn opens her bedroom door and sees Leni walking up the stairs, "Hi Lynn," she happily says._

"_Hey Leni. Can I ask you something?"_

_Unlike Lori, who went straight to college after high school, Leni continued her work at Reinenger's full-time and has also been helping her parents with the younger siblings. Lynn knows that Leni isn't fulfilling her dream of being a fashion designer, but she assumes that she can provide Lynn with some sort of comforting words._

"_Sure, what is it?" Leni says as she slowly walks towards her room._

_Lynn follows after her, "Look, I know that you like doing the whole employee at the department store, but do you ever think that because you're doing normal work that you don't get to follow your dream of being a fashion designer?"_

_Leni shakes her head, "No, actually Mrs. Carmichael can be really nice, I get to work dressing mannequins, and help people make stylish choices, and Mrs. Carmichael has even offered to introduce me to some of her bosses, who are thinking about selling my clothes in all of their stores," she says with a spark in her eyes._

_That doesn't help Lynn, but rather than tell her, she just nods her head, and says, "That sounds great, congrats Leni."_

_Leni smiles, "Thank you, Lynn. I can't wait."_

_Lynn waits outside the bathroom and hears the sounds of Luna, who is singing in the shower. She knocks on the door and tries to get the older sister's attention._

"_Occupied!" Luna sang._

_Lynn rolls her eyes. It is annoying to be on the outside during her sister's extended singing sessions in the bathroom, but Lynn is willing to wait for an opportunity to talk. She knocks on the door again and hears the water shut off._

_Luna opens the door and scowls at her younger sister, "Dude, seriously?! I have to get ready for a gig tonight, can't you wait a minute?"_

"_I just want to ask one thing, do you like doing these gigs? I mean, you wanted to be a musician that sells out concerts, but how pumped are you only playing random gigs for some random crowds? I know that you're still trying to make it big, but what would happen if it doesn't work out and–"_

_Luna sighs loudly. She was only expecting one question, not a bunch of them, "Look, dude, I don't know where this whole thinking about your future thing came from, but I have to get ready, alright?"_

"_Well you can still answer my questions, like what sort of backup plan do you have in mind and how did you decide on it?"_

_Luna closes the bathroom door, and Lynn sighs. Her older sister's reaction shouldn't have surprised her; after all, no one likes to hear a bunch of questions about your life not turning out how they were planned. The difference that Lynn sees is that even if Luna doesn't become a big rock star, she'll still be performing and doing what she loves, and there isn't much option for a grown-up that wants to continue playing sports non-professionally. _

_The sound of Luan joking around with Mr. Coconuts grabs Lynn's attention, and she figures that another older sister might be able to help her out. _

"_You're my last chance, if not, I'll have to wait until Lori gets off the phone with Bobby, and who knows when that'll be," she joked to herself._

_She knocks on Luan's door and hears, "Who's there?"_

_Lynn knows that her sister is about to set up a joke, but she's willing hear it if it means getting some advice. With a groan, Lynn responds, "Me."_

"_Me who?"_

_Lynn opens the door to Luan's room, "Yeah, I don't have a joke. I need to ask you something."_

"_Like who took the varnish?" asked Mr. Coconuts. "I'll give you a hint," he said as he shined in the light._

"_No," Lynn responded to the dummy, "I want to talk to Luan, what are you planning to do after high school?"_

_Luan shrugs her shoulders, and Lynn sighs in relief; at least there was another sister in the same boat._

"_I was probably thinking taking a gap year and work on my act or at least save some money for college. I mean Funny Business Inc. is doing pretty well, but I could always expand my act or work comedy clubs. I still don't have all the details sorted out yet, but I can probably figure it out before graduation."_

_There goes the comfort. With her own business, Luan would have something to fall back on, but Lynn isn't sure if that'll work for her. _

_Luan is surprised by Lynn's question. Normally, she doesn't expect Lynn to worry about such things, and as far as she knew Lynn has wanted to be a professional athlete, but now it seems like she may be doubting herself._

_She sets down Mr. Coconuts, "Lynn, did you want a little help figuring out your plans after high school?"_

_Lynn scoffed, "Nah, I just wanted to know and see what you would interested in, I mean, you can't do kid parties forever, right?"_

_Luan nodded, "Yeah, that's why I'm hoping to move onto the big stages."_

"_Good for you," Lynn said as she walks out of the room._

_She doesn't know why she lied, but she doesn't want to admit that she doesn't know what she's going to do with herself. Lynn walks down the stairs and hears the sounds of typing coming from the dining room._

_She stops and realizes that her parents should be able to hype her back onto being a professional athlete; they're supportive of everyone's dreams no matter how insane, so they were perfect to remind her to go for her goal. _

'_That's right! Mom and dad can probably help me out with this, or at least remind me that I'm gonna be fine!'_

_Lynn walks downstairs and looks for her mom, who is currently typing away on her laptop._

"_Hey mom, can I talk to you about something?"_

_Rita continues to type, "Can it wait five minutes, Lynn? I'm almost done with this chapter."_

"_Yeah, sure," Lynn says as she takes a seat on the couch, waiting for the five minutes to elapse. After what felt like an eternity to Lynn, she walks outside and decides to get some fresh air._

_Rita walks into the living room after the five minutes have elapsed, and notices that her daughter is gone, "Lynn?"_

* * *

Francisco walks through the doors of the university building. He isn't sure what to expect from this job offer; Lynn mentioned that it was supposed to just be reading and filling out charts, but that sounded way too good to be true, Lisa's description over the phone also didn't uncover any more clues. All he was told was to just show up Monday morning with an empty stomach, which already made him nervous. In the past, Lynn mentioned being wary of Lisa and anything that she may offer, but that was years ago, and people change over the course of a decade.

He knocks on the door, "Come in," he hears Lisa command.

Inside, Lisa is staring intently at a chalkboard, before turning around, "Greetings potential brother-in-law. May I offer you a place to sit or maybe some water?"

"No, I'm–wait, what did you call me?"

"Irrelevant, so I'm glad that you're available for this position."

"Thank you?" he isn't sure what to say, "So you and Lynn both mentioned something about charts and a thousand dollars a week?"

Lisa nods her head, "Affirmative, however I must inform you that my work involves biological organisms and there is a risk of an infection for both of us," Lisa pulls out some charts and a blood pressure monitor and hands them to Francisco, "So it is imperative that you track your vitals at home in the event of an unfortunate incident."

Francisco nods his head in understanding, "Quick question – is there a risk of me–us contracting something, you know, deadly?"

Lisa's eye twitched, "Negative, this is a rather simple BSL-3 laboratory. While you may get sick, it's nothing that would be difficult for a healthy adult male to combat with proper medical care." Francisco opens his mouth, but Lisa continues, "Which is offered as part of the job, as well as all immunizations and medications needed to enter the lab."

Francisco sighs, "Good. You know for a minute there, I was worried about–"

"Sign these papers," Lisa quickly interrupts him, as she hands him another set of papers and a pen. "They're your contract explaining your pay, and also forms that I need so that I may get you access to the lab. It also stipulates that in the event that you become sick, you may not enter, for risk of contamination, and that you must inform me of any physical or psychological developments that arise."

"What sort of psychological developments?"

"Depression, unexplained fits of homicidal rage, et cetera."

He raises an eyebrow, "…from the diseases that you work with?"

"It is possible, but also from the medication, in which case I will need to switch it out for something else."

Francisco looks at the forms in front of him; it is filled with plenty of legal and scientific jargon to make his head spin, "Is there anything else that you need?"

"I will need to conduct some blood tests," she pulled out a tray with three containers and some small vials, "as well as a urine and fecal test."

He looked at her, "What's the other container for?"

Lisa looks down at the containers, "I believe you can figure it out on your own."

He didn't, until realization smacked him in the face, his cheeks turned red, "Is that really necessary?"

"I need to ensure that you are in overall good health and that includes fertility. Now do return that post haste, the job cannot start until I finish running your health screening," she informs him, while taking his arm to check his blood pressure.

"A thousand dollars a week…" he quietly repeats the mantra to himself over and over again, until he gave Lisa what she wanted.

"Is that everything?"

She nodded, "Before you go, what medication were you on again?"

* * *

_The teacher begins to wrap up the lecture before the final bell rings. Lynn, who is staring at her desk writing on the sheet of paper, ignores him, and tries to think of possible career choices at are more 'attainable'. She doesn't like thinking that she can't be the famous athlete that she has dreamed of for years, but she decides to go along with the counselor to hopefully end the meetings._

_During class, Lynn wrote out a bunch of careers that she thinks would be a good fit for her, but nothing felt right. She spent her whole childhood thinking about being on the world stage and taking home a medal in whatever sport she wanted, but now everyone kept telling her to be more realistic._

'_Dreams are for kids, no matter how much you feel like one…'_

_When the bell rings, Lynn gathers her things and walks to her locker, along the way, muttering potential things to add the sheet of paper that she is going to hand to Mrs. Anderson. As the crowd of students begins to disperse, she spots Francisco and calls out to him. _

"_Hey Francisco, where have you been?" she asks as she walks towards his locker._

_He smiles, "I should be asking you the same thing, I keep hearing that you're skipping class, I doubt that the coaches are going to be thrilled about that."_

_Lynn sticks her tongue out, "No I'm not, I've got a good excuse."_

"_And that is?"_

"_I've been in the counselor's office, so ha!" she joked._

_Francisco closed his locker, and he begins to walk down the hall towards the gym; Lynn follows next to him and they begin to catch up on the week's events that both of them have missed. After spending a week, stressing about her future, Lynn feels good about not having a regular conversation. However, as soon as she remembers what has been keeping her up more than usual, she remembers why this week has been so cruddy._

"_Hey Francisco, have you thought about what you want to do for a career and whatnot?"_

_He lightly nodded his head, "Yeah, I want to be an engineer. It seems like a nice stable career, even though it'll be a lot of work in college, but–" He stops talking when he realizes the disappointed look in her eyes, "What's wrong?"_

_She shakes her head, but Francisco knows the truth; whenever she's feeling down or any sort of 'negative' emotion, her eyes will give her away._

"_You can tell me," he assured her._

_Lynn opens her mouth, trying to think of what to say, "I have been talking with the counselor for most of the week, and then my sisters, and some of the other girls on my team, and it seems like everyone seems to be doing something more realistic when they get out of here, but I feel like I'm still living in a dream world."_

_Francisco wants to agree with the others, but he can see that she doesn't want to hear another person telling her the same thing. For as long as he's known Lynn, she has always boasted about being the next big thing in sports, and while not entirely out of the question, he understands what everyone else is saying and planning – pick a target you can hit; there are millions of regular people working regular jobs, but only a handful of pro athletes._

"_Since when have you cared what people think?" he asks._

_The question surprises her; she was expecting him to agree with them all, but he didn't._

_Francisco continues, "And besides, there's always going to be a career in sports out there for you. After you retire from the Olympics, you could be a coach, or a trainer, color commentator, maybe a career sports medicine, I mean can you imagine? Team doctor and competing, you'll be a double threat."_

_Lynn smiles, she knows what he's doing, and while she knows that he isn't serious, it is nice to hear that someone actually doesn't mind encouraging her dream._

"_Really? And what would I earn my medal in?"_

"_Depends which season you compete, although you'd probably do both, and go for gold. I mean, are there any women who have won gold in two different sets of games?"_

_She shakes her head, "Nope. Not that I know of."_

"_And you would know, you are the expert. Which means you could probably be a sports historian, that's probably a thing; although you'd have to make it first."_

_She punches him the arm, "Alright, now tell me the truth."_

_He bites down on his lower lip, "Fine…look, I know I gave you crap years ago about not being realistic, but maybe you should try. Everyone gives up before trying, if you still have that drive then why worry? You'll find a way to get there; through blood, sweat, and tears, you'll prove them wrong, right?"_

_Lynn smiles; she's glad to hear those encouraging words, and without a second thought, she pulls him into a hug._

_He's shocked by the sudden contact, but he returns the affection. She lets go, and both turn around and see his girlfriend watching the two from a distance._

"_I think your girlfriend saw us."_

"_She'll be fine."_

"_Are you sure?"_

_Lynn knows that she should probably be careful with him for some time, especially after what happened in the cafeteria, but she figures that she's probably blowing everything out of proportion._

_Francisco shrugs his shoulders, "Maybe, but I think that she'll understand when I talk to her._

"_Alright, I should get going. Thanks for the pep talk," she say as she runs off. _

_Lynn's eyes briefly meets Mary's and the athlete just smiles as she walks away._

* * *

Francisco turns over the steak that he was making to thank Lynn for helping him through this week. It isn't often that he cooks for her, or ever for that matter, especially when dates at his house typically consisted of takeout or random snacks with pop, but tonight he was happy to have a good possibility of job at the moment, even though he is still wary of Lisa and whatever her lab is working on, but he put those fears behind him at the moment.

He pulls out his a notepad and glanced at the wall clock; writing down the time before he popped one of Lisa's pills and his own pain pill into his mouth. From what she said, it was supposed to protect against some long-named disease that he couldn't remember. He looks at the sheet, wondering how much long he would have to continue to this medication, but he shakes his head, if Lisa trusted him to start taking medicine, then he can let some of his fears wash away.

A knock comes from the front door, and he walks over to let her through the door. She sniffs in the air; it smells like something is burning, she quickens her steps and sees the source of the smell, "Do you need help?"

He shakes his head, "No, I've got it. Can you help me set the table?"

She begin to set to the table, but looks over at him. _'Does he not smell it, or does he think that that's normal?'_ She'll admit that growing up around her dad made a bit of a snob in the food department, but not _that_ much.

"So how's it working out at Lisa's?" she asks; he's been her assistant for a few days now, and was genuinely curious what goes in her sister's laboratory.

He begins to plate their meals, "I haven't really started yet. Lisa told me that I can't start until my test results come back," he saw the look on her face, "She wants to make sure that I'm healthy enough to be in the lab without much risk of disease."

Lynn nods her head; that sounds like Lisa, running random experiments on those around her.

"She said that she would get the results back next week, so I can start then," he said as he took a bite of his steak.

Lynn attempts to cut through the streak, but she struggles…not really, but it was still tough. She sees him bite into it with no problem, eating as if this was normal; meanwhile, she is still chewing while wondering how much water she'll need to get through the salty dish.

"Are you okay?" he asks.

She swallows the food in her mouth, "I think that you may have gone a bit overboard with the salt."

He shrugs his shoulders, unaware of how much salt he used on the protein, "Tastes fine to me."

A phone call interrupts their dinner, Francisco pulls out his phone, "It's Lisa," he told Lynn. "Hi Lisa."

Lynn watches him nod and answer a few questions about his 'progress' and if he's 'feeling out of the ordinary' while trying to get through dinner.

"I'll send you a photo of the charts after I finish dinner…Alright, I'll go pick up my badge and parking pass tomorrow…Bye." Without noticing, Francisco had a slight smile on his face that Lynn began to mimic.

In a singsong manner, "Someone's got a job."

Francisco rolls his eyes at her silliness, and gives her a kiss, "Thanks, I appreciate what you did."

"I'm glad, but next time let me make dinner, deal?"

"Deal," he says.

After dinner, Francisco sends Lisa photos of the charts that she requested. Lisa looks over at photos, and says to herself, "Well, this explains what happened at his prior employment…birds of a feather, I suppose…"


	17. Siblings and the Beach

Lisa looks up from her microscope; she can feel him staring at her. He is bored and waiting for something to do, but she doesn't have anything for him at the moment. With Lily, all she had to do was say that there was nothing to do before the younger woman stepped out of the lab and played with her phone or something. However, with Francisco, he will stare at her or look for something to do. Granted, she liked having an organized laboratory and properly sorted files sorted in a timely fashion, but him staying in her lab for hours because he insisted on her getting her money's worth, was beginning to bother her.

She turned around and faced him, "You know that you can go back to your domicile, right? I have nothing at the moment for you to do."

"But it's only been three hours; don't you need anything done at the moment?"

"I do not," she said before turning around to her work.

It's like that every day, five days a week. She doesn't need him around as much as told him; she only required his services sparingly, however, Francisco is like a thorn at her side, and he refused to leave, claiming that he can find a way to make himself useful.

At the moment, Francisco is beginning to slowly walk around the lab trying to find something to busy himself with, whether it be cleaning the lab surfaces for the umpteenth time, or shuffling the papers over again, or checking the calibrations on her machines; he doesn't want to leave.

Lisa walks over to him extends her hand towards the door, "While I appreciate your diligence, I also request that you leave. Your work is done for the day, and the moment there is nothing more that I can ask of you."

"You could teach me some of the more technical aspects," he suggests, "You know that I'm capable and you're more than capable of teaching me."

Lisa shakes her head, "I understand that you have a desire to be of service, and you are doing more than enough, but use this time to recuperate your physical and emotional strength."

Francisco sighs, "Alright, thanks for today."

She hears him walk towards the door, "Before you go, I want to ensure that you have been taking the medicine that I have been providing you with."

"I have, Lisa. I have been working for you for some time; I think that you can stop reminding me to take the medicine like a child."

He doesn't like her constant repetition, and after a few months, he figures that she should be aware that he knows to consume the pills that the lab provides the staff.

"It's precautionary. I don't need to worry about my gui–" she begins to lightly cough, "I don't need to worry about my lab techs getting sick."

Francisco slowly steps back from her," Alright, I guess I'll see you tomorrow?"

"How about I call you first? Sound like a plan? I don't want you to waste time when I don't have much for you to do," she told him.

Francisco is about to say something, but sees Lisa focus on her work, and knows that it's futile. It keeps happening. No matter how hard he works, no matter how much he tries to show initiative, Lisa keeps him away from the lab more often than not.

As he walks to his car, he looks at his watch, "It's still early," he sighed, why does she bother teasing him like this if he's just going to show up for maybe an hour or so every day. Every other Monday, their meetings are the same – she asks for his charts, asks if anything has changed and then subjects him to those annoying tests of her's.

"Three dang months of this crap…"

Yes, it is decent money, but at this point he is getting sick of how unproductive he is feeling. What good is the money, if all he ever did was just take a few pills, work for a handful of hours, and go home? He could stay home for that matter and not bother showing up; not that Lisa would even mind, assuming that he is reading her right.

Francisco feels a vibration in his pocket and reads the message – it's his brother.

**I'm in town  
And I've got some laundry**

He sighs, and types back.

**I thought that you were coming last week?  
I can't meet you right now.  
I'm going to go see if I can pick up Elena today.**

**Bring her over, it's been a long ass time since I've seen her  
And pick up some ice cream  
We're both craving the stuff**

Francisco doesn't want to see his brother, not now. He wants to use the afternoon to sending time with his daughter, instead he'll have to keep an eye on Kiké just to make sure that he doesn't say or do anything that he has to explain to Elena later. Francisco shakes his head, nearly every time that his brother appears, there's a gift of unknown origin or some story that his brother deems appropriate for the near ten-year-old girl.

**I don't have time**

**Well too bad  
Next time don't leave your spare key where I can find it**

Francisco groans and drives to pick up Elena from her aunt's house.

* * *

_Lynn, Margo, and Francisco are sitting down under a tree at the park watching people pass them by. The heat of the summer sun is beating down on them as sweat beads down their heads, the three are bored and summer is barely halfway over._

"_I'm bored!" Lynn complained, "What is there to do?"_

"_Sit under a tree and hear you complain," Francisco joked._

_Lynn rolls her eyes as he and Margo laugh, "I'm serious, we've been sitting around here for hours and we've done nothing! I swear there has to be something to do!"_

_It hasn't been hours, but Margo and Francisco both know that Lynn-time runs much more differently than everyone else. However, they don't blame her. Without any games or practices, the three were at the mercy of their own imaginations, and they didn't have much that wanted to do that they haven't already done. _

"_We can go to Gus' Games and Grub? Play some games or something?" Margo suggests._

"_I guess…" Lynn says without enthusiasm in her voice._

_Neither girl is thrilled at the idea of heading to the arcade; all three have played every game and have won every prize that they desire, so there isn't much to do there anymore._

"_What about Dairyland?" Lynn suggests._

_Francisco shakes his head, "Nah, we just went for our end-of-school year trip. Do you really want to go again?"_

"_Museum?" asks Francisco._

_Margo shakes her head and silently points at Lynn; he knows what she's trying to say. Historically, Lynn gets easily bored at museum and tends to walk away from exhibits if they don't interest her, so there isn't much of a point of wasting their money if they aren't going to spend much time._

"_What about a trip to the beach?" Margo suggests. "When was the last time we've been?"_

_The other two friends think about it; summer is halfway over, but it's also tourist season, so the idea of trying to make their way through crowds of people isn't the most appealing. However, she did make a point; they've never gone together as friends and with licenses in their pockets, they could take a daytrip._

"_Alright Margo, we're in," Lynn speaks up for herself and Francisco, "but which one do we go to?"_

"_I have an idea," Francisco circles his right hand with his left index finger, "Just tell me when to stop," he joked._

_The girls laughed and close their eyes before telling him to stop. They look at where his finger stops and look up._

"_Anyone up for a trip to Muskegon?" asks Francisco._

_The girls shrug their shoulders; it's a three hour trip, but they don't see that as a reason to say no. The group rarely goes on leisure trips together, so this is their opportunity to get away from Royal Woods and have a little fun._

_Margo begins to prepare for their trip, "We can probably get snacks there, maybe invite a few more people–"_

"_For a volleyball game?" Lynn interrupts._

"_Or a hike," Francisco brings up._

_Lynn responds, "Okay, that too." She turns to Margo, "Will your car fit a bunch of people?"_

"_I was sort of hoping that you could bring your family's van," Margo suggests._

_Lynn stopped to think about it, Vanzilla can fit her softball team, so a few extra friends plus all of their beach gear, shouldn't be too much of a problem._

"_Alright! So who are we calling?"_

* * *

Francisco drives up to the gates of the community where Violet lives. He understands that Caroline is busy during the day, and without school, Elena needs some sort of supervision, but he hates that his daughter is staying with Caroline's sister. When he first met her, she was indifferent to him, and as the years passed, Violet has made it clear that she doesn't like him around her sister or niece.

He knocks on the front door of her home and answers the door, "What are you doing here?"

"Hello, Violet," Francisco says, trying to maintain his cool, "I'm here to pick up Elena. I told Caroline that I would pick her up and drop her off later this afternoon."

"She didn't say anything to me."

Francisco took a deep breath, "You can call her while I wait for Elena to get her things."

He knows that Caroline told her sister, but she likes to make things difficult for him. After he and Caroline broke up, he understands that she was bound to harbor some negative feelings towards him, but after so many years, he's sure that she enjoys doing so.

"Must you raise your voice like that?"

He barely spoke higher than how he was speaking to her, but decides not to say anything to aggravate her.

"Well I thought that with such a large home, it would be helpful."

"It isn't, now wait here, while I ask my niece to retrieve her things."

Francisco puts up a fake smile as she closes the door, and lets out a huge breath when he hears it close,_ 'It has been too long…'_

He doesn't make a habit of visiting her, but with summer and his new job, he unfortunately will have the displeasure of seeing and talking to her more often than he likes.

The door opens and Elena emerges with her things, Violet looks at Elena at eye-level and tells, "Next time, I promise that I'll take you out on our boat to have some actual fun."

He knows that that was directed at him, but he continues to keep calm, for Elena's sake.

'_They help her…they give her great opportunities…they are…her…family…'_

"Goodbye aunt Violet, see you tomorrow."

Violet gives her a hug and kiss goodbye, "I can't wait."

The two walk towards his truck, and Francisco asks, "Did you have fun?"

She nods, "Yeah, aunt Violet and I had a private tennis lesson, I swam in her pool, and her chef made us lunch."

"That's nice."

Elena stops talking. She knows that her dad and her mom's side of the family aren't on good terms, but he never admits to how uncomfortable it makes him. Whenever they know that he's coming around, they'll turn up the charm and shower her with some extravagance, which she suspects is to make him jealous.

As the two get in the truck, he tells her, "I hope you don't mind, but your uncle Kiké is going to be at home."

"Its fine," she shrugs her shoulders. "He's been planning it for weeks."

Francisco raises an eyebrow, "What do you mean?"

"I don't know I just get this feeling that he's wanted to come over after so many months."

She is used to having him show up at random times after so many years, and while her uncle doesn't have a set pattern, he does at least appear every few months.

"Okay…well, I don't know how long he's staying, but he's probably staying with me for a few days."

"That's fine. I don't get to see him that often, but why does he always stay with you instead of tio Chuy or abuelita?"

"I don't know, I think he likes my house better," he tells her.

"Even though he has to sleep on the couch?" Elena asks, "And endure you both occasionally arguing with one another?"

Francisco shrugs his shoulders, "I guess."

"Do you think that his visit has anything to do with what happened to his store in Montana?"

Francisco looks over at her from the rearview mirror, "What store in Montana?"

She closes her eyes, as if she was trying to remember, "The general store that gave away presents to frequent customers if they said 'swordfish'."

He doesn't know how to answer that. Heck, he didn't even know about the store that she's referring to, "I…don't know…but how about we ask him when we get home."

Francisco's phone vibrated; it's Kiké.

"Ey menso! Don't pick up any ice cream, I already got it. I mean, seriously, what the hell is taking you so long anyway?!" Kiké complained through the phone.

"I had to pick up Elena near Huntington Oaks, cut me a little slack."

Kiké scoffs, "Whatever, just get home already before the ice cream melts."

"Then put it in the freezer," Francisco suggests.

"But then it'll be hard and tough to scoop," Kiké complains.

"Then be smart about it, instead of whining. We'll be home in a bit."

The father and daughter pull into the driveway and can hear loud music blaring from inside of the house. The windows are trembling and Francisco is dreading to see what he'll find when he walks through the front door.

"Guess he's already made himself at home," Francisco says out loud.

Jackson, who noticed that his neighbor arrived, walks outside to speak with Francisco, "Thank goodness, you're home. The cacophony hailing from your house has been aggravating my bees, and quite frankly, I'm sure that the other neighbors are also becoming annoyed by the noise your brother is making."

Francisco sighs, "I'll put an end to it," he says before walking towards the front door.

"Mrs. Green is staring," Elena whispers to her dad.

"I know," Francisco sighs as he turns over to his neighbor across the street, who immediately closes her curtains upon seeing him staring back at her. "She is such a busybody," he mutters to himself.

Francisco walks into the house and the noise from the music startles him and Elena, who runs over to turn off the speaker.

"Hey!" Kiké shouts in the direction of the speaker.

"Hi tio Kiké," Elena waves at her uncle.

Kiké smiles and opens his arms for a hug, "Hey, how my favorite little niece?"

Elena giggles, "I'm your only niece."

"Which automatically makes you my favorite, how's school been?

Francisco could not figure out why his brother was able to build such a rapport with his daughter, despite rarely being in her life. With his erratic visiting schedule, the two rarely have time to spend with one another, but every time they see each other, it's as if no time has passed.

Kiké leads Elena to the kitchen to serve ice cream as they catch up on everything that has happened since they last saw each other.

He set a bowl down in front of her, "I've got something fun planned for this weekend, _if _you're both interested," Kiké says, looking at Francisco.

"What is it?" asked the girl, curious about what her uncle had planned.

Francisco's ears perked up; in the past, Kiké has never been the type to just invite his family on any sort of outing, and if he did, there is always some element of foolishness behind it. The younger brother shudders as he remembers a side trip in Arizona from his college days.

"So you know my friend, Ali?"

"The one with the bum leg?" Francisco asked.

"No, that's Max, I'm talking about the guy with the import shop. Anyway, he's outta town and he's going to let me borrow his dune buggy so we can go to the beach."

Francisco is skeptical. He knows the types of people that his brother is involved with; they're usually the types that don't mind skirting around the law for a quick buck, and they aren't the types of people that he wants his daughter to be around.

Kiké hypes up the trip to the girl, "What do you say, huh? I meet you both by the beach on Saturday and we can have some fun, get some sun, go swimming, drive the dune buggy, maybe even screwing with tourists."

Elena smiles, "That sounds fun, except for the messing with tourists part," she turns to her dad, "Can we go, please, please, please, please, please?" she begs.

The older brother rests his head on his niece's shoulders, and they both attempt to use the old puppy dog eyes routine; it's ridiculous that the two of them even tried, even if Elena could get away with it sometimes.

Francisco shakes his head, "No." Elena frowns, "I can take you to the museum, sweetie, but I don't want you getting on some strange man's dune buggy."

Kiké scoffs, "Strange man? He's not strange. How about this? You ride it first and see how safe it is, and then Elena can ride. Win-win, right?"

No, it isn't. Francisco isn't afraid of the machine being unsafe; he just doesn't like Elena being out and about when Kiké was involved, especially when he has a history of 'borrowing' certain vehicles.

"Please dad. Just one ride, then we can spend the rest of the day at the beach."

"I'll invite Chuy so that he can keep an eye on her and me," Kiké says, in an attempt to sway his younger brother. "You'll outnumber me two to one, how's that sound?"

Francisco still isn't convinced takes a deep breath, but he looks down at Elena, whose eyes are begging to go on a beach vacation and he agrees.

"Fine, but if I don't think that that dune buggy is safe, then you take it back or put it away or something, got it?" he tells his brother.

"Deal!" Kiké says. "One more thing, my laundry is in the garage already."

Francisco takes a deep breath before he leaves the two and walks to the garage. He opens his brother's luggage and sees the contents before whispering to himself, "Swordfish."

* * *

_Lynn pokes her head into the kitchen and sees her dad making his latest experimental concoction. His happy face creates an opening for Lynn to ask her dad for Vanzilla to go to the beach with her friends. The trip ended up with more guests than expected, but no one complained; after all, the more the merrier._

_Lynn Sr. notices his daughter standing by the entryway and asks, "Hey LJ, want to give me a hand in here?"_

"_Uh…sure," she says as walks towards her dad._

_She looks into the pan and is surprised by the giant fish that is staring back at her. Lynn knows that the home kitchen is dad's opportunity to try out some of his ideas, but sometimes she wished that he would space it out a little more than once a week._

"_Can you get me the tomato sauce from the pantry?"_

_She covers the fish back up and walks to retrieve the sauce. As she hands him the sauce, she decides to ask, "Hey dad, can I borrow Vanzilla to go to the beach with my friends? We wanted to go to Muskegon, and we invited a few people and in case we go to a beach with paid parking, we don't want to waste too much money with a lot of cars. And Vanzilla can fit nearly everyone, I mean, Francisco still wants to take his truck, but he knows how to fix cars, so if anything happens, he can carry some tools and we won't have to worry about being stranded on the side of the road. So what do you say, can I borrow Vanzilla?"_

_Lynn Sr., surprised by the request, temporarily stops stirring pot, "What? Lynn Jr. no," he tells her. "I can't let you take Vanzilla."_

"_Dad, what the heck? You used to let Lori drive three hours to go to the city, why can't I take Vanzilla to the beach with my friends? I'm not even leaving the state."_

_Lynn Sr. looks at his daughter, "LJ, you don't have your license yet. I can't let you take Vanzilla without a licensed adult inside or behind the wheel, and your mom and I are going to be busy this weekend."_

_She hoped that he forgot that she didn't get her license yet._

"_What if Margo drove it? Or Francisco? They both have their licenses."_

_He shakes his head, "Sorry Lynn, maybe you and your friends can figure something else out."_

_Lynn groans; her plans ruined because she still hasn't passed her driving test. Her meager attempts at the test have resulted in nothing but failure, but she knows that she's close…she just has to get past her speeding problem and her tailgating problem and the excessive close calls that she makes with pedestrians, street signs, and nature._

"_Okay."_

_With dinner served and finished, Lynn heads to her room and texts her friends to let them know that she won't have Vanzilla to take to the beach. With other friends going along, someone can probably borrow a car to take their trip; they'll just have to travel in lots of small groups._

_Lynn Sr. knocks on Lynn's door, "Hey LJ," he says as he walks in, "I thought of a way that you can Vanzilla to the beach."_

"_Really?" she says with a spark in her eyes._

_Her dad nods his head, "You can take Vanzilla, if Luan goes with you and your friends to the beach."_

"_What? Why?"_

_She isn't against having her siblings around, but she hoped that it would be more of a trip with her friends and teammates._

_He takes a seat on her bed, "Lynn, you don't have your license, and Luan said that she's free to take you."_

_She gives in. She knows that she isn't going to get her license in time for their trip, so better to take Luan and Vanzilla than to rearrange their plans._

"_Oh, and your brother said that he wants to go too," he mentions._

* * *

Lisa opens the passenger side door and enters Vanzilla. Lily looks at her from the driver's seat and begins the drive home.

"So," starts Lily, "how was work?"

Lisa looks over in her younger sister's direction. She asks this question every day, and every day she has the same response.

"At the moment, everything is the same as the previous work day," Lisa sighed.

Lily gives a playful smile; she knows that the question bugs Lisa, but sometimes it is fun to just break the silence after a long day.

"How is your game coming along?" Lisa asked.

Lily bites her lower lip; she didn't really work on it. It's unfortunate problem that she has; she is a procrastinator and a huge one as well. She used to put off homework to play video games or draw, she put off college to help Lisa, and now she puts her job aside to finish her game and she is still struggling to even get through that.

"Fine…so is Francisco working out okay?"

Lisa nods her head, "Affirmative. He is an excellent employee whom I can count on to be productive and to take initiative…unlike my last assistant," she says to Lily.

The younger sister rolls her eyes, "Like you ever wanted anyone to help you with anything," in her best Lisa-voice, "Younger sister, please refrain from going through patient files. Younger sister, must you insist on playing that electronic game while I am doing this highly delicate procedure. Younger sister–"

"Enough," Lisa groans. "I understand that I can be particular about my work environment, but when I go into a laboratory I expect a certain degree of professionalism."

"Particular?" Lily scoffs, "If that ethics committee let you clone yourself or if the school didn't require you to hire students interested in research projects, you would be all alone in that lab. Be happy that somebody endures you and doesn't want to leave."

Lisa rolls her eyes and silently contemplates potential ideas for how to talk to Francisco. He's stubborn like Lynn, but unlike her, easier to approach with this sort of news. It doesn't sound difficult, but Lisa is aware that he'll try to find a reason to stick around her lab.

"What are you up to?"

"I'm thinking if I can have Lynn talk to him, and get him to understand that he doesn't need to work as frequently as I previously stated. He'll still earn the same monetary compensation, but won't be in the laboratory as often."

Lily raised an eyebrow, "You do remember the reason he's working for you, right? Lynn said that he was driving himself nuts not having anything to do. How do you think he's going to react when you tell him that you're going to cut his hours?"

Lisa didn't care and began to dial Lynn, "That's odd, she's not answering." Lisa pressed on her screen, "She's talking with Luan. I guess I can contact her later."

Lily nods her head, "I guess…wait a minute! You can see who we call?!"

"…No…"

"You liar!"

* * *

_Francisco and Margo pull into Lynn's driveway. It's eight am and the friends wanted to quickly pick up the rest of their group so that they can get on the road soon. With Lynn saying that her parents let her take their van, they want to meet with her first so that they can gather everyone else, and get going._

_Margo looks at the backseat of the truck, "Are you sure that you don't want to move some these things into Lynn's van? It's sort of crowded."_

_Francisco looks at the rearview mirror and shakes his head. He knows that if he places their supplies into the truck bed that nothing will fly out, but he worked hard getting everything to fit perfectly in backseat, and he knows that some people may want to bring extra supplies and better to place them in the truck bed than flying off of the roof of Lynn's van. _

"_It's fine. Besides, Lynn mentioned that her van can fit her whole family, and now if she and anyone else want to bring their bicycles or something, we'll have space in the back."_

_As the two stepped out of the truck, Lynn comes at them in her bicycle. She narrowly misses Francisco, and stops at the end of the driveway._

"_You guys ready to go?"_

"_Whenever you are," Francisco says, ready to go._

_Margo turns to Lynn and asks, "Do you have everything?"_

_Lynn thinks about it, "Just give me a minute, and I'll bring my bag out. Also, my sister and brother are coming too," she tells her friends before running inside._

_The two are surprised; she didn't mention her siblings coming along. Neither one is bothered by them coming, but more annoyed that Lynn didn't bother to mention it sooner. _

_Lynn's dad pops out of the front door with a small cooler, "Alright I packed some sand-wiches for everyone. I want you kids back home before it gets dark. Get it?"_

_Lynn sighs and Francisco and Margo let out a small chuckle._

_Luan laughs as she takes the cooler from her dad's hand, "Good one, dad. We'll be _shore_ to enjoy them."_

"_I _fish_ I was going," he sadly says, "But you kids go and _seas_ the day. Make sure you avoid _pier_ pressure and keep yourselves _octopied_."_

_He and Luan laugh at the puns, "Here are the keys, and please be careful with my baby" Lynn Sr. says._

_Lynn squeezes between the two jokesters and places her bag inside of Vanzilla. Both friends turn to Lynn, "What's going on?" Margo asks._

_Lynn quietly responds, "Dad said I couldn't take Vanzilla to the beach alone, so Luan is coming," Lincoln runs through the front door with his back, "and my brother too."_

_They understand Lynn's older sister coming along, but having her younger brother doesn't make sense, but neither one question it, and decide to go along with it._

_Lynn drops off the bicycle in the truck bed before she walks towards the passenger door. She is about to get in when her dad quickly says, "LJ, how about you go in Vanzilla? I want you to learn from watching Luan drive."_

"_But I can learn from watching Francisco drive."_

"_Yes, but…but…but you're going to be driving Vanzilla one day, you should see what makes her tick and how you handle her. Lincoln, why don't you keep Francisco company?"_

_Both boys are surprised. Neither one has ever been alone with one another, and weren't sure how to react to the man's announcement._

_Without thinking, Lynn asks, "What would they talk about?"_

"_I'm sure they'll think of something," Lynn Sr. says as he drags Lynn and the girls into Vanzilla, "Now I'm sure you kids don't want to be _lake_!"_

_The kids minus Luan sigh and the girls begins to settle into Vanzilla as Francisco and Lincoln get into the truck to go pick up the rest of the group._

_Francisco keeps his eyes on the road. The two boys remain quiet, neither one says a word to the other, as the older boy begins the drive behind Luan to pick up the rest of their friend group._

"_Do you want to turn on the radio?" asks Francisco._

_Lincoln shakes his head and looks out the window, "Not really, unless you want to listen to something."_

_Francisco takes a deep breath, it's a three hour drive, and it is also the first time that the two have ever in each other's company alone for an extended period of time. He doesn't understand why Mr. Loud placed Lincoln in the truck with him, but he didn't question him at the time; now, he sort of wished that he had. Francisco doesn't have anything against Lincoln, but he doesn't know much about him, except for whatever Lynn has told him before._

'_My brother? He's into things like video games and science-fiction nerd stuff…oh! And Ace Savvy, he loves that guy.'_

_Francisco doesn't know much about those subjects, 'This is going to be a long drive.'_

* * *

Chuy and Francisco pull out their belongings from the back of Francisco's truck. The two of them are keeping an eye on Kiké as he confidently rides the dune buggy by the shore. Elena watches over her uncle and is excited for her opportunity to get in the vehicle.

"Do you honestly believe him when he says that his friend is letting him borrow the dune buggy?" Chuy asks his youngest brother.

Francisco shakes his head, "No, but at the first sign of trouble we hightail it out of here," he jokes.

Chuy chuckles to himself, "Alright, but maybe don't alarm your daughter. The last thing she needs to know is that her uncle is going to get taken away during a simple beach trip."

Kiké pulls up by his family and turns to Francisco, "Are you ready to go on a ride? I don't think that you want to keep your daughter waiting."

"We just got here," Francisco declares, "Let's get set up and then we can have fun."

Kiké blows a raspberry, "Just let Chuy do it," the older brother isn't thrilled at hearing that, "besides, I think he can handle it."

Chuy walks up and hands him a cooler full of food and drinks, "I think you can handle it," he tells Kiké, who is struggling to keep it up on his own.

"Fine!" Kiké yells, "Don't know why you're putting off the inevitable!" he taps on the vehicle and a mirror falls off.

As everyone set up their site, Francisco is muttering to himself, "One ride…just one ride… just one ride…" He is not thrilled about getting behind the wheel with his brother by his side, but just to get it out of the way and keep Elena from getting on.

"Are you nervous?" asks Chuy.

Francisco nods his head. It's bad enough that he is putting his trust in his sketchy older brother, but also with his daughter around, it's worse. As Francisco keeps his eye on his Kiké, who ditched them and drove off with the buggy; he feels his heart rate rising. His gaze is fixated on the rising sand, as if he was being put into a trance.

Chuy places his hand on his youngest brother's shoulder, "You'll be fine. Just tell Kiké to go slow and you won't have anything to worry about."

"I guess…"

"Is tio Kiké almost back?" asks Elena, before her uncle appeared, as if summoned by the girl.

Kiké stares down at his younger brother, "Ready to admit that you can trust my friend's dune buggy?"

Francisco isn't, but he figures that if it isn't safe to ride, then he doesn't have to worry about Elena getting hurt, and if it is, well, there's always lying.

Francisco takes a seat behind the wheel, and Kiké takes a seat next to him, "Alright, you ready to go?"

"I guess…"

"I guess? Jeez what confidence you have."

Francisco turns to his brother, "I'm sorry I'm not as trusting in my brother, it must have been that trip through the desert, right Richard?"

Kiké holds his tongue, "You'll be fine. Just give yourself enough time to stop, don't make any sudden turns and nothing bad will happen."

Francisco stares at his brother, "What? Are you telling me the brakes are shot?"

"Not shot, just not great. Now let's go!"

Francisco slowly moves the buggy. It moves well, and so far isn't giving him much reason to doubt what his brother said. He presses down on the brakes and realizes what his brother warned him about; the buggy slows down, but only when Francisco pressed down hard on them.

"See! Nothing to worry about."

"Except your reckless driving habits," Francisco responds.

"Oh, but your girlfriend did it and it was no big deal," Kiké retorts. The younger brother turns to his brother, who can see what Francisco wants to say, "Yeah! I know."

Francisco sighs and decides to speed the vehicle up and really go for a test drive. Kiké hold on tightly to the rails as Francisco swerves a bit to avoid rocks and people.

"Watch out!" Kiké says, before Francisco quickly turns the steering to move away from the people.

The buggy rolls over and Chuy watches as the two lose control of the vehicle and quickly shields his niece from the accident. Beachgoers move out of the way as the vehicle heads towards them and the two eventually crash onto a large rock near the shore.

Kiké emerges from the turned-over vehicle. He feels pain and something running down his back, before he looks over at Francisco, who is still in his seat, bleeding and biting down on his lip trying to keep himself from screaming in pain.

Onlookers head towards the accident to help turn the vehicle, and Francisco eventually passes out from the sudden shock of pain from his injuries.

* * *

_Francisco taps his fingers on the steering wheel as he looks out at the road. For the last hour, neither one of the boys have said much to one another with the only noise in the vehicle being a sneeze or a cough. _

_Lincoln speaks up, "You know, Lynn mentioned that you…" he lost his train of thought._

_Francisco nods his head; he has an idea of what Lynn could have told her family about him, but he assumes that he doesn't pop up in conversation much, after all what reason would she have to even mention him to her family._

_The older boy clears his throat and decides to go along with what Lincoln was starting, "She mentions me?"_

_Lincoln pauses. He knows that at some point Lynn had a crush on him, but she hasn't mentioned it at all in the last three years. Deciding that putting his sister in hot water with her friend isn't worth it, he tells the driver, "Just a little bit. I know that when she mentions hanging out with friends, your name pops up."_

_That's believable. Lynn doesn't mention her family that much either and aside from a few sisters, he doesn't have a grasp on who is who; he rarely asked and she didn't ask much about his family. Although, he doesn't blame her for not asking about his family, the last time she visited his home wasn't so positive._

"_Is it weird to live in a house with so many sisters?"_

_He's been curious. Living in a house of all boys, he doesn't know what it's like to have sisters, let alone ten! Although, that would probably be his next question._

"_Not really," Lincoln responds. "I mean, it's just everyday life for me. We get up, we play, we fight, but we still love each other. However, a brother would have been nice."_

_Lincoln isn't sure what else to say. Despite growing up with such a large family, he can't say that his life is that much different than anyone else's; it's all he's ever known._

_Francisco chuckles, "Sometimes they're nice, but sometimes they can be a pain, but that's all siblings, right?"_

_Lincoln nods his head with a smile, "Yeah, so you've got a brother?"_

"_Two," Francisco corrects, "But they're much older than me, so I'm just their little baby brother."_

_From Chuy's perspective, it isn't true, from Kiké's it is, but Francisco still isn't sure about why that is. _

"_Wow! You have older brothers? Lucky!"_

_Francisco can't tell if Lincoln is possibly romanticizing the idea of an older brother, but with five older sisters, he can't blame him. One of the things that he's happy about having older brothers is that Chuy was nice enough to include him in day-to-day activities growing up, especially when he was often tasked to do more by his mother's side._

"_Do you want an older brother?"_

"_Sometimes, but then I worry that he might be a little rougher, but maybe to have someone that gets me."_

"_Yeah, I get that. One of my brothers didn't have any issues teasing me growing up, especially after I got this chip on my tooth from playing baseball," he points out._

_Lincoln points to his own chipped tooth and the two laugh._

_The rest of the ride, the boys continue their talk, and as Francisco pulls into the parking lot_

"_Well, that went by pretty quick," the older boy says before noticing the time on his watch, "Maybe not."_

_The boys step out of the truck towards the beach to enjoy a few hours before they have to head back to Royal Woods. A flying volleyball heads towards Lincoln and Francisco warns him to duck. _

_Lynn yells from the sand, "Sorry!"_

_Lincoln turns to Francisco, "Thanks," he says, happy to not be on the receiving end of a ball from Lynn._

"_Anytime."_

* * *

Chuy and Kiké slowly lead their brother into his house. Francisco, disoriented from the medication that he took after leaving the hospital, was mumbling to himself while moving his head in circles trying to make sense of his surroundings.

The oldest brother let go of Francisco, "Can you hold him while I search for the key?"

"Sure," Kiké said, before being overwhelmed by his younger brother's weight. He let Francisco lean against the front door as he rested his arms.

"You know that this is all your fault, right?" Chuy mentioned, as he searched for the key.

"How the hell is it my fault? I put the key right back where I found it."

"I'm talking about the dune buggy," stressed Chuy.

"Oh. Well, I told him to be careful and watch his distance when he wanted to stop," Kiké tried to defend himself. "Not to mention the quick turn he tried to pull out of nowhere."

"There was a group of people in the way, what did you want him to do? Hit them?"

"It's not like they couldn't have gotten out of the way, they weren't blind, _plus_ they have functioning limbs!" Chuy shakes his head, "What? Are you pissed that I'm not a damn boy scout like you?"

"I'm mad that you knew about the damn brakes and still insisted that it was safe. I'm mad that I had to deal with a scared niece who was afraid of seeing her dad in an ambulance, and I'm mad that because of you, Pancho now has to deal with a broken arm, broken ankle, and stitches… And one more thing!"

"I get it!" Kiké interrupts, "But us bitching isn't going to make things any better."

Chuy glares at his younger brother, and took Francisco off of the door, before opening it. The two brothers silently lead the youngest to his couch, and lay him down to rest. The elder brother looks down at his youngest brother and tries to think of how he, his mother, and Kiké can help him out around the house.

"Do you think that he'd want to move back home temporarily?" Chuy asks.

Kiké scoffs, "No, besides doesn't he have a job? Why doesn't he stay with you? You can carpool together."

"Thanks to you, he doesn't, and I'm gone for most of day."

"Which means that it doesn't make a difference who he stays with."

"So," started Chuy, "how long are you in town for?"

Kiké shrugs his shoulders, "I don't know, but I can probably stick around a few days."

"Oh great," Chuy says in a sarcastic tone, "the rest of the time, Pancho can just hope that he doesn't have to go out and do anything."

Kiké scowls, "You act like he's going to be loopy like this all damn day, at some point he's going to come down from the clouds and he's going to be able to get around no problem. Besides, he still has an arm and a leg to stand on."

"I'll come by when I can," Chuy starts, "but keep an eye on him for a couple of days at least until he gets the hang of getting around with the cast and ankle brace."

Kiké stares at his older brother; he can't believe that the eldest brother thinks that Francisco can't get around without someone to watch him. He lightly shakes Francisco, "Ey Pancho. Pancho! Wake up!"

Francisco snaps up from the couch, and immediately falls to the floor from the sudden movement.

"Fine! I'll stay a little longer," Kiké complains.


	18. Compassion and a Little Push

Four days. That's how long Kiké is able to stay; at least that's what he told his younger brother. Francisco knows what he's up to, and knows that he could stay longer, but frankly he is sick of his brother's constant presence. Every morning, every afternoon, and every damn night he is there, and why – because of the stupid injury.

Both brothers are used to their lives being a certain way, and like anyone who has a guest for an extended period of time; it gets annoying fast. Spats emerged over silly things like meals, remotes, and even the tiniest of noises; if it wasn't for Lynn's love of his reclining chair, he's sure that he would have made an attempt at getting rid of it just to stop the squeaking.

It's like growing up all over again, except Francisco is happy that his brother can leave.

"You know," Francisco started, "you could have at least cleaned up a bit before you go."

Kiké takes offense to that, "Clean? I'm here to make sure you don't topple over and die because you can't get up, not be your personal maid, I cleaned up after myself."

Francisco glares at his older brother. All these days and his brother found it better to sit around, drink, smoke, or sit around watching tv than to actually help him, like he was supposed to; although the younger doesn't know why he expected anything different.

The younger brother is thrilled that his brother was leaving; he is sick of seeing him in his home for so many days, especially after the accident, but he knows that if it wasn't Kiké, Chuy or his mother would come over, and he was happier alone.

At the moment, Kiké is looking around the house to see if he was missing anything. His bags are packed and he is ready to leave to town for the next couple of…whatever time he deemed fit. He looks at his younger brother who is attempting and failing to make a sandwich in the kitchen. Kiké shook his head and continued to search the house to see if he missed anything.

He walks into the kitchen and asks Francisco, "So do you need anything else before I leave?"

Francisco looks up from his plate, and shakes his head, "I'll be fine. Besides, this isn't the first time I've been hurt."

Kiké shrugs his shoulders despite seeing him accidentally spread mustard on his cast, "I know, how often have you gotten hurt in your twenties?"

"I don't know, but it doesn't matter. I pull through."

That's how they are with each other, they could crash and burn, but unless they actually asked the other for help, neither one is jumping to do so with the other.

"Again with the fucking sandwich, don't you ever crave anything else?" his brother asks.

Francisco rolls his eyes at his brother's complaining, "There isn't exactly a lot I can cook with my dominant arm broken, and I can't keep eating takeout."

"All I hear are excuses. Now I know why Caroline didn't offer to let you stay with her in her fancy house when she called."

Francisco looks at his brother, "When did you talk with her? And what made you think that she would offer to let me stay with her."

"She called a few days ago, wondering what happened; I'm guessing Elena wasn't too sure and she wanted to hear it from you, and I thought maybe she wants to be your nurse."

Francisco rolls his eyes, "Why didn't you pass me the phone?"

"Because you were asleep," the older brother responds. "And I can imagine that crap you would give me if I interrupted your beauty sleep," he teases.

Francisco limps away to the dining table in an effort to ignore his brother. No matter how much the pain radiated from his back, he continues moving forward so that he can eat and give his brother a better reason to leave.

Kiké notices his brother in pain and searches through his bags, "By the way, don't go too crazy while I'm gone," he reminds his younger brother, "I'll be back in a couple of…I don't know, a month or two?"

It's his usual sendoff, but it is accurate; he usually appears as he pleases, but at least he warns his brothers ahead of time.

"Oh and here," Kiké says and he tosses his brother a bottle of Francisco's pain pills that he had stashed in his luggage, "Don't use them all at once."

Francisco tries to catch and almost falls over as his brother closes the door, "About time he left," he says after his brother closes the door.

He walks to the couch and looks in the direction of his bedroom. He takes a deep breath, and shakes his head; he hasn't been alone for even ten minutes.

The sound of the wall clock's second hand ticks away. Francisco looks up and declares that enough time has passed since his last dose of medicine.

He gets up and limps to his bedroom.

* * *

_Lynn scratches her head in frustration as she scribbles away to write her notes. The teacher has been lecturing, but she can barely keep up as Mrs. Robinson continues with the lesson, and she is sure that she just made a mistake on her notes._

"_Everyone please put your things away. It's time for lunch," said the teacher as she begins to erase the key notes on the blackboard. _

_The fourth grader silently sighs in relief as she puts her things away in her desk and grabs her lunch. She can't wait for the school day to be over so that she can go home, but there's still three more hours of school to go; which means three more hours of droning lectures to hear and her struggling to listen._

_Lynn notices her friend sitting down at a table and calls out to her before taking a seat next to her best friend._

"_Can you believe that lecture?" asks Lynn as she pulls out her lunch._

_Margo nods, "I know, it was so interesting."_

_Lynn opens her mouth and closes it when she can't think of what to say. She expected her friend to agree that the lecture was boring, but to hear her say that it was interesting, sort of made her wonder. She wasn't sure how interesting a lecture on the history of copper mining was supposed to be, but like all the years before, Lynn just learned to go along with her friends when it came to school._

"_Yeah…it was," she lied._

_Lynn eats her sandwich and tries to remember what her teacher said in class, but most of it sounded like those teachers in the cartoons that his brother liked to watch. No matter, how hard she tried in school, it didn't stick. _

_As more of her friends began to sit down, the conversation began to turn from school and miners to the weekend, _

_The lunch bell rings and the students head back to class. Lynn's teacher hands out a worksheet for the students to work on, and the girl reads the first question, before her eyes begin to wander away from the sheet and onto a motivational poster hanging across from her. Lynn knows that she's read that poster over a hundred times, but it didn't matter, she always makes a habit of reading it when she loses interest in her schoolwork._

_Her teacher walks up to her, "Lynn, do you need some help with the worksheet?" she asks, snapping Lynn away from the poster._

_She shakes her head and rests her head on the desk as she tries to read the assignment with just one eye. Mrs. Robinson turns back and sees Lynn press her pencil to the sheet of paper, but it doesn't move._

_Lynn isn't the first student that she's had that struggles with schoolwork, but she does notice that the girl is falling behind a lot of her classmates. She makes a mental note to have a conference with her parents, and decides to stay close in case she wants help._

_Lynn gets her head up from her desk as she feels her teacher's eyes on her, 'Am I in trouble?' she asks herself._

_She turns her head slightly and sees her teacher still looking in her direction. Lynn looks back down on her paper and begins to answer the questions with ease. Mrs. Robinson notices the change her student and walks away to check on the other students._

_As Lynn sees her teacher walk away, her eyes wandered away from her assignment. Margo, who is sitting next to Lynn, whispers, "Do you need help?"_

_Lynn shakes her head, "No, not on this…maybe the reading assignment and the homework," she admits._

"_Do you want to study after school? I can tell my mom to pick me up after school at your house."_

"_You sure that you want to study at my house?"_

_Margo has mostly heard stories about Lynn's rambunctious family, and thinks about it for a minute, before she nods her head, "I'm sure."_

* * *

Francisco snores away on the couch. The sound of knocking wakes him up abruptly and he looks around the room with his eyes; hoping to find the source of the sound without having to get up. He shakes his head; assuming that he is probably just hearing things. He yawns loudly and closes his eyes in hopes of getting to sleep again.

The knocking continues.

Francisco groans, a pain radiates from his back as he tries to get up, "Damn couch…" he mutters to himself before grabbing the pill bottle from the coffee table and takes a pill dry.

He slowly gets up, but the pain is making it difficult to move properly; his legs feel wobbly and his head feels like its spinning. As he walks to the door, he grabs onto any furniture that he can, hoping to keep himself from ending up on the ground.

He holds onto an end table and stares down at the carpet, _'What am I doing again? Why am I up again? I should be resting a bit.'_

He turns back to the couch, before the knocking on the door reminds him that he was headed towards the door.

Francisco slowly opens the door to reveal Caroline and Elena.

"Hi Dad."

"Hey, um…" he struggles a bit with her name, "Is it Friday already?"

Caroline lightly nods, "Yes, it is."

She looks at him; his clothes are messy, his hair disheveled, and his beard longer than normal.

"You know, if you think that you need an extra weekend to get better, I understand," she tells him.

"What?" he snaps from his thoughts, "it's the weekend, Elena and I always spend weekends together."

Caroline knows that these few days meant a lot to him, but is there any point when he is clearly tired and needs more time to recuperate from his injuries. She knows that Elena will understand, but she also knows how stubborn he could be too.

"Are you okay?" Caroline asks with concern in her voice. Francisco is absentmindedly scratching at his face, as Caroline tries to get his attention. "Francisco!"

He looks at her, "Oh sorry, I still haven't gotten used to the beard yet. I'll see you next weekend," he tells her as he closes the door on both her and Elena and Caroline.

Both look at each other, surprised that he did such a thing, however Caroline decides to take advantage of the privacy and steps down to meet her daughter at eye level, "Look, I know that you and your dad look forward to your weekends together, but maybe it's a good idea to let him get better and then you can come back next weekend."

Elena frowns. Even if her mom is making a good point, it didn't mean that she feels any better. She knows how her dad could get when he was sick, but they only get Friday afternoons to Sunday nights, and they both like to at least try to make the most of it.

"Okay…" Elena says with disappointment in her voice.

Both of them get into the car, and before pulling out of the driveway, Caroline texts Francisco a message for him to read when he is capable.

* * *

_The girls are reading their books in Lynn's room and every pages, Lynn looks over at her friend and notices her focused on the page. She stares back at her book and looks at the last words that she read, before looking at Margo again. _

_Margo notices Lynn's staring, "Wow! You're already done?"_

"_What?"_

"_With the reading?"_

"_Oh almost," Lynn says before burying her nose in the book._

_Margo looks back at her book, "Just give me a few more paragraphs. Oh, by the way, did you want to work on the homework together?"_

_Lynn looks up, "Yeah!" she says; anything to end the boring reading. "Let me go look for the worksheet in my backpack."_

_She pulls out her backpack and Margo notices a mess of papers falling to her feet as she searches through what appears to be a year's worth of schoolwork._

_Lynn pulls out a wrinkled piece of paper, "Ready when you are!" Margo sets down the book, and is interrupted by the sound of Lynn's stomach, "Sorry, guess I'm hungry. We can get a snack if you want?"_

_Margo smiles, "No, I'm fine."_

_The girls quietly look down at the assignment. Lynn looks over at Margo and sees her effortlessly fill out the worksheet. The blonde notices Lynn's staring and she looks up, "What's wrong?"_

"_Nothing, just…trying to think of what to write," she lies._

_Margo subtly notices that Lynn still isn't writing and turns her head to face her. She can see that Lynn is beginning to panic, "Who is Gloria? And what book inspired her to throw a party?"_

"_What?"_

"_In the story," Margo realizes that Lynn probably struggled to read it. Her mom told her that sometimes kids struggle to read because of disorder, and she assumes that Lynn is probably embarrassed and didn't want to say a thing to her._

_She begins to summarize the story to her and Lynn hangs onto her every word. Lynn begins to quickly fill in the worksheet with ease, and Margo notices some misspellings, "Maybe you can write down the questions and answers so that you can look at it later," she suggests._

"_That's a good idea!" _

_The girls continued, and Rita interrupts the girls, "Margo, your mom just called. She said that she's on her way over."_

"_Thank you, Mrs. Loud," she looks at Lynn, "I better get my things."_

_Lynn, who is writing notes on the story, looks up, "Aww is it that late?" She looks out the window and sees that the sun is starting to set._

_The girls walk downstairs and Lynn continues to write down what she could remember as the girls wait by the door. A car pulls up to the front of the house and Margo bids her friend goodbye._

"_Bye Margo!" she yells to her friend from the front door._

_Lynn closes the door and hears a sound coming from her baby sister's playpen. The older girl walks over to Lisa. She looks down and says, "You're lucky, you don't have to do homework or study for tests." She shows the infant her notes, "See this? One day you're gonna have to learn it, and it's boring."_

_Lisa intently looks over at her sister's notes. Both are interrupted when they their dad, "Lynn Jr., can you get Lisa her bottle? It's time to feed her."_

"_Got it!" she yells to her dad._

_She walks into the kitchen and gets the bottle from the fridge. As she places the bottle in the warmer, Lynn stares at it, and thinks about how psyched she will be to go to class tomorrow now that she's armed with the info that Margo gave her. She proudly taps at her pocket and notices that her notes aren't in there._

_Lynn looks around the kitchen and sees that they aren't in the room. She walks towards the dining room and nothing. In the living room and they aren't there either._

_She walks into her parents' room and asks, "Mom, have you seen my notes for school?"_

"_No, sorry I haven't, but give me a minute and I can help you look for them," Rita offers. _

_Lynn begins to panic; she finally had something that could help her understand what her teacher was talking about and she lost it. She runs up to her room and begins to take apart her bed, thinking that she may not have taken the pages with her downstairs._

_Lynn Sr. walks into the kitchen and notices that it's empty. He walks over to the bottle warmer and sees that Lisa's bottle is ready._

_He takes the bottle to his youngest and looks down at Lisa's playpen, where he notices a piece of paper sticking out from under her blanket. He takes the paper from his daughter and tries to read the words on the paper._

"_Rita! Rita! Come quick!" he calls to his wife. "Look at this," he shows her the papers. "There are actual letters on this paper. It's a little crude and I can't tell what she's trying to communicate, but there are actual words on here!" he excitedly tells his wife._

_Rita isn't convinced, but the messy handwriting looks familiar._

"_I think that we may have a little genius on our hands," Lynn Sr. proudly says as he picks up his stoic daughter._

"_Lynn!" Rita calls out._

_Both father and daughter, who runs down the stairs, ask, "What?"_

_Rita hands her older daughter the paper and asks, "Are these the notes that you've been looking for?"_

"_Yes! Thanks mom," Lynn happily says, as she takes her notes from her mom. "Now I don't have to beg Margo to help me again," she says as she runs back to her room._

_Rita looks at her husband, who confidently tells her, "Well I still think that Lisa's smart. Remember how I used to name parts of my face and she can point to them on her own face?"_

"_Okay, honey. Whatever you say."_

* * *

Francisco slowly opens his eyes, _'How did I end up on the floor?'_ he thinks to himself, as he makes an attempt at getting up, but struggles as his nerves fired off in pain.

"I can do this…I can do this…" he tells himself, refusing to see himself like those old people in those tv commercials.

His knees feel stiff, and his back did not want to cooperate with him. He drags himself to the couch and lifts himself up in an attempt to get onto the somewhat softer piece of furniture. After hoisting himself up, Francisco makes an attempt to catch his breath. He assumed that after exercising for months, he wouldn't struggle, but the pain radiating from his back definitely knocks the wind out of him.

"Elena! Elena!" he calls out into the house. "Where is she?" he asks himself before checking the date on his phone. "It's Sunday, she should be home."

Francisco quizzically looks at the notifications on his screen; they were all from Caroline.

**You were sick**

Without having any memories of what he assumed was an interaction on Friday, he knows exactly why she took Elena. During their time together, Caroline has seen him sick a handful of times, and he recalls that every time she did her best to get him back to health as soon as possible; because they both knew that he has a hard time caring for himself, let alone doing so with Elena.

Wait…he isn't sick. He breathes through his nose and felt his forehead, but he confirmed it. Maybe a little dizzy from the medicine that he's taking, but he's not sick from any actual bug or anything.

**Took Elena for the weekend**

Understandable, he can't even remember them coming, how would he care for a nine-year-old?

**We'll talk privately when we get a chance**

He isn't sure what that last part is about, but he figures that he can get to that when they talk.

His stomach begins to rumble. He can't remember the last time he ate, but he is going to take a crack at it and say Friday, despite the dishes in the sink, still, that is a long time without food.

"A pizza sounds good right now…wait, are they open?"

* * *

"_That's all for today, class," says the teacher as he dismisses the students. "Don't forget that you have a test on Monday. Take advantage of the weekend."_

_Lynn steps into the hallway and looked around for Margo. Since fourth grade, Lynn has always asked her friend to help her with her notes for classes, and now, as eleventh graders, the tradition continues._

_She continues to look around, but there is no sign of Margo._

_Francisco sees Lynn jumping over the crowd, looking for something and he walks over to her, "What are you doing?"_

_She keeps jumping in her search for Margo, "Hey! Have you seen Margo? I haven't seen her all day and I need her to help me with my notes for English class."_

"_Isn't your sister a super genius? Why don't you ask her?"_

_Lynn stops bouncing and leans against the lockers, "She won't help unless I have some notes that she can go over, so I won't get much help if my notes are crap. Besides, I just need good notes, and Margo is always willing to help."_

_Francisco stays quiet. Margo has told him before about the arrangement that the girls have had since elementary school, but she's also mentioned that it's entirely one-way as Lynn has yet to return the favors._

"_I can help," he offers._

_Her eyes lit up, "Really?"_

"_We have the same test, so why not?"_

_She happily wraps her arm around his shoulder, "Alright! Let's go!"_

_The two take a seat on the bus and head to Lynn's house. They walk through the front door and Lynn announces, "I'm home! Francisco and I are gonna go study in my room."_

_Rita calls from the dining room, "Okay, but make sure that you try to study, Lynn."_

"_Okay!" Lynn responds._

"_Study?" he asks._

_Lynn shrugs her shoulders, "Kinda, I mean I do have to read your notes and that counts for studying," she declares._

_The two walk upstairs and she opens the door to her room, "Alright, make yourself at home. I have to find some paper and we can get started."_

_He pulls out the desk chair to sit, while she searches under her bed, "Don't you have a notebook for class?"_

"_It's somewhere down here," she says as she digs through the trash, clothes, books, and other things littering under her bed._

_Francisco looks around the room. He rarely visits her house and its even rarer that he enters her bedroom. In the few times that he's visited, he's always noted the messy state of Lynn's half of the room and he can tell that it's a trait that Lynn hasn't changed._

_She pulls out a ream of printer paper from under her bed and takes a textbook to place her paper on._

"_Do you want me to move?" he asks as he gets up from the chair. "I'm sure it's easier to write here than on your bed."_

"_Nah, I'll be fine. I can write from here."_

_He picks up the chair and sits near her, in case she needs help. He pulls out his notes from his backpack and hands them to her. _

"_Is there a reason that you need help with your notes? Let me see what you've got."_

_Lynn hands him what she has written in class, "Maybe, but Margo's notes definitely help."_

_Francisco looks at Lynn's notes and is surprised by what is written on the paper. Most of the notes didn't stay within the lines, little pieces of information are placed wherever there is space, and there were plenty of misspellings that made him wonder how she got to the eleventh grade._

_He takes a sheet from her notes and asks, "Lynn, what does that say?"_

"_Those are the vocabulary words that Mr. Cameron has posted up every day."_

"_You know that spelling counts towards our grade, right? And why don't you have the definitions?"_

"_I'll get it from a dictionary, don't worry," she tries to assure him, "I swear, you're like Margo."_

_He can't blame Lynn for not being worried. Most of the test isn't something that needs to be heavily studied since it's based on interpreting short stories, and knowing some basic information about the books that they are reading in class. However, knowing the vocabulary words and their proper spelling will be helpful._

"_Speaking of Margo, have you seen her all week?"_

_Lynn stops writing and shakes her head, "Nope. I haven't seen her at all."_

* * *

On Sunday afternoons, Lynn has a tradition of visiting Romano's Deli for coffee and sometimes a home cooked Italian meal. She isn't the biggest fan of intruding on the family during their day off, but Raffaelina, the owner's wife and matriarch of the family, won't take no for an answer.

"And she just kept talking over and over again. At some point, I don't know when, I stopped paying attention and agreeing with her," Lynn tells the woman, recounting her phone conversation with Luan.

Raffaelina takes a sip from her coffee, "Why don't you listen?"

"I don't know I just get bored listening to her complaints. Besides, why call me? She knows that I'm not the one to go to for these sorta things!"

"Maybe she wants to release emotions or hear from someone different," she suggests.

Raffaelina has listened to Lynn's conversations for some time, and while she doesn't attempt to interfere in her affairs, she does try to push Lynn into making good choices, rather than impulsive ones.

Lynn shrugs her shoulders, "I guess…"

"Why don't you," Raffaelina struggles to find the right words, "mostra un po 'di compassione?"

Lynn loudly groans, "You know I haven't picked up that much Italian! I can barely make a sentence and you want me to understand a phrase? Let me show you…" Lynn looks around the kitchen and points to some apples, "Can I have a…mela?"

Raffaelina laughs and gets up to hand her the fruit, "Show compassion. Show you care."

Lynn stays quiet. It's not often that any of her sisters talked to her about anything that bothered them, so hearing Luan want to vent surprised her. Although, based on what Lucy has said, it's happened before; Lynn imagines that the source of her sisters' grief has something to do with their proximity, work, or whatever Luan was talking about that Lynn ignored.

"We'll see…"

"Try again."

"Alright, I'll call her back. Is that what you want to hear?"

"Maybe, but listen when she talks, don't play with a ball."

Lynn isn't upset at Raffaelina's request, but she isn't looking forward to repeating the conversation with Luan. She can't imagine that her older sister is going to be thrilled at knowing that she didn't listen and was just mindlessly agreeing, but one less thing on her chest.

The two silently drink coffee, and Raffaelina looks in the direction of the younger woman; her cup is beginning to shake and she asks, "Have you found a job yet?"

Lynn's cup stops shaking, she was afraid that Raffaelina would ask this question. Since she quit her coaching job after returning from her trip down south, the older woman has asked every once in a while, but Lynn knows why she keeps asking.

"No, but I'm doing fine; 840 days."

"Good, now why no job?"

"Because, I'm financially fine, I didn't even need the coaching job in the first place, but I did it to get you off my back," Lynn says.

With the frequent talks, their personal lives are bound to come up, but for Lynn, it feels like she's in high school again hearing her parents, teachers, and other adults telling her to buckle down and take things seriously, when she just wanted to play ball.

"You need something to keep busy, if not, you get bored."

Lynn rolls her eyes, "I'm always bored. Why do you think that my resume is so colorful?"

The older woman sighs. For as long as she has known Lynn, she has been impulsive with her life choices; typically making her decisions based on mundane signs or because she wants to quickly move on to something more exciting. Unfortunately, the young woman rarely thinks long-term and it shows based on her job history.

With a cheeky smile, Raffaelina responds, "You worked at a copy store?"

Lynn chuckles a bit at the memory of how she would occasionally play around with the machines when bored and once printed a resume with every color in the color wheel.

"How are things going with you and Francesco?" Raffaelina says with a knowing smile.

Lynn turns her head away from the older woman. She doesn't like her bringing up the relationship, usually due to her daughters' intrusive nature, but also because Raffaelina has made it clear that the she entered in her relationship too quickly.

"Yeah…it's been going good. He got a new job with my sister, Lisa. I haven't seen him for a couple of days, but," she shrugs her shoulders.

Raffaelina waits to see what Lynn was going to add, but as Lynn takes a sip of her coffee, she knows that the younger woman isn't going to talk. When Lynn told her of the relationship about a year ago, Raffaelina was concerned about the two dating, but she has since let it go.

"But?"

"I don't know, I haven't seen him."

Raffaelina's older daughter, Theresa, walks in and looks over at the two women talking at the table, "Who haven't you seen?"

Lynn turns around and faces Theresa, "Francisco," she turns back to Raffaelina, "It's been over a week. I've called and texted, but he doesn't answer. I asked my sister and she says that he didn't go into work on Monday, but she also says that she didn't even bother to call him anyway, so yeah."

Theresa takes a seat next to Lynn, and beats her mother to the question, "Are you worried? I mean, you don't hear back from him in a week and he doesn't respond when you try to communicate with him; it's a little worrisome."

"Okay, he doesn't not respond," she corrects, "But when I called during the week, he tells me to call him back, then when I listen, he doesn't answer me."

Laura, Raffaelina's younger daughter, comes up from behind and takes a seat next to Lynn, "You know what you should do?"

Theresa responds for Lynn, "Cut your losses and move on."

"No!" the three others immediately say.

Laura sticks her tongue out at her older sister, before starting again, "See, mama agrees with me. Romance is the better option," she tells Lynn, then turns towards her sister, "If you aren't careful, you'll always have some doubt and someone won't be afraid to take advantage."

Theresa kicks her younger sister under the table, before Raffaelina quickly tells her daughters in Italian to leave the room and leave her and Lynn to their conversation.

"Are they right?"

The older woman asks, "What?"

"Are they right? I mean, I don't know how to be in a proper relationship and maintain it? My last good one was when I was eighteen and that was short-lived. After that, well you know that story…"

"Look Lynn, I can't say what to do. I only give advice, what you do is on you."

That's what Raffaelina always told her. It's nice that she cares enough to open her family's home to her, but she could only offer the insight that came with age and experience, and that's it.

"I know that," Lynn explained.

"Do you?" questioned the older woman, "Who told you to wait before dating? Who said that you should know each other first? Who said that you shouldn't do anything crazy because of your emotions?"

"You did," Lynn responded like a child who was being punished, "but I don't know what to do. That's sort of why we talk on Sunday afternoons…that and your tomato sauce is really good."

Raffaelina scoffed, "Good, she says."She shakes her head and sighs, "Do you trust him? Has he given you any reason to doubt him? Do you care about him?" Lynn responds to each question with her head, "Don't worry."

* * *

_Francisco pulls out his phone and sees a message from Margo._

_**Can you do me a favor?**_

_**What is it?**_

_**Could I borrow you notes for English class?  
I haven't been to class for a few days, and I want to know what's going to be on the test**_

_**Sure, I can send my notes over there in a bit.**_

_**Thank you so much**_

_This is the opportunity that Margo has probably been waiting for after seven years. A chance for Lynn to return a favor and let her borrow her notes; granted, the notes are Francisco's, but it's better than nothing. _

_Francisco slowly started asking, "Do you think that Margo will need some help, you know, studying? Maybe some notes in case she shows up for the test on Monday?"_

"_Couldn't she just ask Mr. Cameron to take the test another day? He's pretty understanding, especially since Margo has a good excuse."_

"_But she has friends that could give her the information now," he adds, "Why not just help her so that she doesn't have to waste time later taking it?"_

_Lynn shrugs her shoulder, "I guess."_

_Francisco isn't convinced. He looks at Lynn and sees her beginning to play with a can of pop, "Are you done? I have to get going."_

_Hearing that snapped her back to finish writing her notes; she hates making him wait, but she knows that if she doesn't write them down now, then she'll put it off all weekend._

"_Lynn, just go help her. Is it really that hard to do? I mean you ask for help from her, why can't you return the favor?"_

_She isn't sure where all of that came from, "What are you talking about? I help her."_

"_Do you?"_

"_Yes, I help her run drills for soccer, baseball, and–" _

"_Something non-athletic," he interrupts._

_Lynn starts to think about and realizes that Francisco was right, "Wait…how did you know that I never helped?"_

_He didn't want to tell her that Margo told him, and quickly lied, "I've known you for years, Lynn. You mean well, but sometimes, you tend to focus on yourself too much. Sorry."_

_It's sort of true, and he did think it, but he didn't want to start a fight between two good friends over something frustrating that Lynn does._

_She scowls and quickly writes her notes, "Done," she hands him the notes. "I'm heading to Margo's. Thanks."_

_He sighs and quickly follows out the door. She stomps out the front door and he watches her head away from him in a huff. _

* * *

Francisco quietly holds onto his stomach, while trying to watch television. His stomach feels like it is in knots and he can't ignore it despite the noise coming from the television. He feels full and ready to vomit. The people on the screen continue to talk, but he can't concentrate; only worrying about the possibility of spending the night crawled up like a ball on the bathroom floor.

He lets out a nauseous burp and feels heartburn beginning to creep in.

Rather than suffer all night with the taste of garlic and insomnia-causing stomach pains from hell, he decides to do the sensible thing and get some medicine for his aching stomach.

He turns off the television and walks to his medicine cabinet and pulls out a bottle of pink medicine. Francisco looks at the bottle and already imagines the scent that comes from within the bottle and he is not looking forward to devouring it at all. He takes the little cup from the top of the bottle and shakes his head; not wanting to consume it. He holds his head over the sink, and makes a small attempt at throwing up before having to resort to the medicine that he hates, but nothing came of it.

He takes a deep breath, and prepares himself for what is coming next. After he takes the medicine, he feels the liquid touch the back of his mouth, the taste overpowers him and he immediately throws up. Francisco groans; he hates vomiting. As he rests his head on the faucet, he tries to force whatever chunks or stomach acid that he has out of his nose and mouth.

'_There goes a perfectly good pill.'_

Francisco looks at his blurry reflection in the mirror. He is dizzy and struggling to focus on the mirror's image, but he can tell that his eyes looked tired. However, Francisco isn't too concerned; a good night's sleep should remedy that, he tells himself.

"I just need something…" he opens his medicine cabinet, and notices the bottle of medicine that Lisa gave him the last time he visited her lab.

"Have I taken these yet?" he can't remember, but decides to take the dosage on the label, regardless, along with his usual medicine.

He takes a deep breath, _'I just need sleep is all…'_ Francisco slowly walks to his bed. He plops down; not caring that he is still in his regular clothes; he is tired and dizzy and just needs to rest.

Francisco looks at his clock on the night stand, _'Maybe I am sick…6pm and already in bed…'_

The man's phone buzzes, and he groans, _'Not now…'_ he thinks to himself as he takes his phone out of his pocket and sets it on the floor.

The phone keeps buzzing with each incoming notification. Less than two minutes later, the phone buzzes again; which continued for five minutes before Francisco grabs the phone and tosses it out of the room in frustration.

He isn't sure if he broke his phone, but he doesn't care, so long as that damn buzzing stopped.

Lynn stared at his name on her phone's screen, before she looked at the driveway. His truck is parked, but every light in his house was dark despite the hour.

"I guess there's always the front door…" she tells herself. "And the spare key…" she says continuing to convince herself, "And I'm probably doing him a favor, I mean with the lights off, people will think that he's not home and try to rob him." She shakes her head. She doesn't really need to go in there, but maybe she does, at least that's what she's thinks she should do.

She gets out of her car and approaches the front door, and before she could get the spare key, Lynn could hear Raffaelina's voice; telling her that she's probably overstepping by going inside.

"Its fine, besides it's not like I'm some stranger. He knows me, there's nobody in there but him and maybe Elena," she said to the older woman in her imagination. "I just want to be sure that he's okay."

She walks into the house and calls out his name, "Francisco…are you home?"

The light from the kitchen grabs her attention, and she assures herself that he has to be home, "He wouldn't just leave this light on." She continues to search, noticing the messy state of the house, which is currently littered with dirty plates, a half eaten pizza, and wrappers from various fast food restaurants.

The sound of snoring grabs Lynn's attention. She looks up at the ceiling and hears the sound again; taking a few steps in the direction of the sound. She continues to follow the snoring, and notices a broken cell phone outside of Francisco's room.

Lynn's heart is pounding, but if anyone was inside she is ready to face them head-on. She quietly opens the door and peeks inside. He is sprawled on the bed with his arm and leg hanging off of the bed. Deciding to sneak up on him, she tiptoes inside and walks closer to him, but stops when she noticed the casts and stitches.

"_Dang,_" she mouthed quietly to herself, before leaving the room.

"What the heck happened to you?" she whispered to him.

She quietly steps out of the room and walks to the living room to take a seat on the couch.

'_I did not expect to see that,'_ she thinks to herself. _'Still he could have called or something…'_ she shakes her head and tries to think more positively, but her mind began to creep down the dark path as she tried to figure out how he got hurt.

'_He could have fallen off of the roof…nah…slipped on ice, no wait…it's hot outside, there's no ice…oh! Maybe he slipped on a banana peel,'_ she giggles at the thought of him walking down the street and slipping because of stray banana peel.

Lynn grabs a slice of pizza and takes a bite out of it, "Guess I could ask him in the morning."

She lays down on the couch and feels a lump. She digs under the cushion and finds a dirty sock, "What the…?"

Granted, Lynn is no stranger to a messy home, but it feels strange to see her boyfriend's house be this way; he used to playfully tease her about her messy room and now here he is, one step away from having animals wandering in confused if they were indoors or not, "One time, and you owe me one," she says out loud to herself.

She grabs the pizza box, and begins to stack the dishes on top of the box. "If only they were plastic," she said, tempting the idea of playing a bit of frisbee with the plates. She sets them down in the sink, "It's only been a couple of days; how the heck do you have so many dirty dishes?"

Rather than starting on the dishes, Lynn opens the fridge to put the leftover pizza away when some silver cans grabs her attention. "What the…"

Lynn swallows, and put the pizza box inside and before closing the door.

* * *

**Hello everybody, and thank you for making it to the end of the chapter. It's been a while since I've left a note here, but hopefully you will continue to enjoy the story for many weeks to come.**

**I want to thank Pedroxmv97 for confirming that ****Kiké is an ass (I was hoping that was clear, but I wasn't too sure if I had to make it worse)**


	19. Frustrations and a New Friendship

Lynn pours herself a cup of coffee, and walks outside. She spent the night on his couch, hoping to see him, but even now, she is still waiting for Francisco to wake up. She doesn't want to and do nothing, but going back to sleep is no longer an option. Rather than be cooped up indoors, she takes a step outside and sits down on a lawn chair as she enjoys the fresh air.

"Hello!" said a voice from the other side of the fence.

A startled Lynn jumps a bit, before getting closer to the fence, "Hello?"

An older man looks over at the woman with a smile on his face, and tipped his hat to her, "You must be Lynn."

"Yeah, and who are you?" she asks, curious about the older man and how he knows her name.

He extends his hand out to her and introduces himself, "My name is Jackson, nice to meet you."

Lynn shakes the man's hand, "Nice to meet you too." She feels an awkward silence as grabs the garden hose and begins to spray some of his plants, "So…how did you know who I was?"

"Well, Francisco mentioned you quite a bit for the last couple of months. If I recall, you were described as a headstrong athlete with a shy heart shown only to her loved ones, although I added that last part myself."

She is silent and doesn't know what to say to the description she heard. A part of her is flattered at the athlete comment, especially since those days are, for the most part, behind her, and using headstrong is definitely not wrong, but Lynn isn't sure how this man that never met her thinks that she has a shy heart.

In an attempt to play it cool, she asks, "So, he's talked a lot about me?"

The older man nods, "He brings you up every once in a while when we have our evening chats."

She is surprised that Francisco would talk to this man about her, and what's more, it never occurred to him to ever tell her about the man that she is mentioned to. In a way, Lynn isn't surprised, up until now, she hasn't asked him too much about his personal home life and has been going on the few snippets of information that he shared with her. Now, here she is learning that he talks to his neighbor at night, and mentions her as well.

"So would you by any chance be interested accompanying me on my morning walk? I'm sure it's better than just standing around and waiting for Francisco to wake up."

Lynn shrugs her shoulders, "Sure, I guess I could use something to really get my blood pumping."

She walks into the house and sets the coffee mug down on the counter. After making sure that she has the spare key in her pocket, she goes outside to meet the man, who was currently on stilts.

Lynn looks up at the man, "You know, I don't normally mind being the shortest in my family, but now this is ridiculous."

"Well, if you'd like I can offer you a spare pair of stilts that I have in my garage?"

She shakes her head, "No thanks, I think I'll be fine here on the ground."

The two quietly walked down the street, the sound from the wooden stilts hitting the cement sidewalk was the only thing that she could concentrate on. As neighbors went about their day, Lynn's eyes are drawn to a man covered in sweat and punching in the air.

"That's the Boxing Man over there," Jackson says as he points out the man who is punching in the air and speed stepping through the street.

Lynn nods and notices the concentration in the Boxing Man's eyes. His form is perfect, he has a deep concentration in his gaze, and she is sure that she can hear him muttering to himself; probably some personal words of encouragement, she thinks. She can see the eyes of a fighter, and her interest is piqued in finding out more about the athlete.

"I'm not sure what his story is, but he always shows up every summer to practice in the streets."

"So where does he live?"

Jackson shrugs his shoulders and continues to walk forward. Lynn runs to catch up to the man, "Now that house," he points to a house with a man coming out dressed in coveralls, "Be careful with that young man; he's a bit of a bad seed."

Lynn raises an eyebrow, "How?" she asks before a strong scent hit her and she knows what Jackson means.

She notices that he has started to walk away and Lynn quickly sprints to catch up to the man who is making his way down the sidewalk.

"And over there is the party store that's I've frequented since I first moved in," Jackson continues, unaware that Lynn isn't next to him. "You know the family that runs the store– why are you running? I'm not going that fast, am I?"

"No! You just ran off when I got distracted by the drug dealer's house."

"Apologies. But also don't bring that up out loud, the last thing I want is for him to start causing trouble for you and Francisco."

Lynn looks back at the man in the coveralls; he doesn't look like any drug dealer that she's ever seen, he's a little on the scrawny side and he reminds her of a yappy little dog that barks more than he bites.

She turns back to Jackson, who is still walking while mentioning some random neighbor whose name she didn't catch. The two continue the extensive tour until they end up back in front of Francisco's house.

"And that concludes our tour down Eisner Street, did you enjoy the tour?" Jackson excitedly asks Lynn.

"It was…interesting," she tells him, unsure of why the man felt the need to describe the neighborhood to her.

She turns her head towards the house across the street and sees an older woman who is looking at both her and Jackson, "Who's that?"

Jackson looks over and sees the woman close the curtains as Lynn points at her house, "That's Mrs. Green, Francisco can probably tell you a bit more about her, or you'll find out eventually."

* * *

_Francisco steps out of his dorm; it's the last weekend before classes start and he wants to take the opportunity to physically see the layout of the campus. Some upperclassmen offered to show him around, but they also wanted him to join them on a trip off-campus, and he doesn't want to spend the whole day away with a group of strangers._

_He pulls out a map and searches for the mission that the school was built around. Unlike the colleges that he went on tours before, the university is much smaller, which he doesn't expect to spend too much of his day exploring._

_He notices how much of the surrounding buildings are built in the same style as the white mission, and as he walks inside he takes note of the interior décor, which heavily reminds him of the churches that his parents would take him to as a boy._

_Francisco exits the mission and walks in the direction of the library and a group of girls walks towards him. Both groups ignore each other, but Francisco feels as though someone is staring at him. He ignores the feeling and continues his walk around the campus._

_On Monday, Francisco is sitting down and eating breakfast in the dining hall, when he gets the same feeling that someone is staring at him. Without making it obvious, he looks around to see if anyone is looking at him. No one looked as if they were staring at him, but the feeling isn't going away._

_During his first week, Francisco didn't make much of an effort to talk with other students, unless necessary, so he can't imagine what person would be staring at him in the dining hall._

_He shakes his head; he's being ridiculous. He's in a room full of people that more than likely don't even notice him, he still can't shake the feeling that someone is looking at him. He gets up from his seat and keeps his eyes peeled as he tries to think of who would be looking at him, however, in his efforts to find the culprit he accidentally bumps into blonde woman._

_Francisco drops his tray and as soon as he hears her yelp, he immediately apologizes, "I'm so sorry, I wasn't looking where I was going."_

_He didn't knock her over, but she stares at the flustered young man and asks, "You were the boy that was walking by the library with the Royal Woods shirt, right?"_

_Francisco looks at her and is surprised that she knows where he is from, "Uh…yeah…how did you know?"_

_The shirt that she is mentioning was a simple blue and gold shirt with the letters R and W; he assumed that no one would have known what the letter stood for, but in front of him was someone who proved him wrong._

"_I'm from Huntington Oaks," she tells him. The girl extends her hand to him, "My name is Caroline."_

_He returns the gesture, "Francisco."_

"_Well it's nice to meet you."_

* * *

As the light of the sun begins to shine inside of his bedroom, the sun's rays hit Francisco's eyes and he starts to wake up. Francisco haphazardly rolls off of his bed before his broken arm made contact with the floor. He bites down on his lower lip to keep the sound of pain from escaping his mouth, and reaches into the nightstand drawer to pull out his medicine in hopes that it would kick in soon and keep the pain at bay.

"Stupid Kiké…" he mutters to himself. He doesn't want to admit the he needs his brother's help, but there he is on the floor, struggling to get up.

Francisco waits until the pain in his arm and back subsided before he made another attempt at getting up again.

"Just a little bit…" he silently tells himself, before feeling pain radiating from his back. "Dang it!" he screams, as he tightly grips his bed sheets.

The door to his bedroom opens, and Lynn rushes over to him.

"Lynn? What are you doing here?"

"Good morning to you too," Lynn responds, as she hooks her arm around him and quickly moves him onto the bed. She secretly tries to catch her breath; surprised that he is tougher to lift than she thought.

Francisco looks over at her, "I'm sorry, I'm just surprised that you're here."

Lynn nods; she almost forgot about the sleeping man when she arrived from her outing with Jackson. "So what happened to you?" she asks as she holds his hand.

"Dune buggy accident."

Lynn opens her mouth, "Dune buggy accident? When did you get into a dune buggy accident?"

"Not important, I just blame faulty brakes and a sharp turn."

"Really? Not important? Jeez, way to fill in the blanks for someone."

Francisco sighs, "I'm sorry, but I don't feel like getting into all of the details of something like that…"

Lynn lets it go; knowing that he isn't going to bother opening up, he never likes to…

He attempts to get up from bed, and Lynn gets in front of him to stop him, "What are you doing?"

"I have to take my medicine," he says as he struggles to get to his feet.

She stops him, "Just get back in bed, I'll get them for you." Lynn searches through the drawers in his nightstand.

"Not there. Look I'll just get it myself," he says as he makes another attempt at getting up, before Lynn lightly pushes him back down.

"I'll find them. Don't worry."

Francisco's eyes follow her as she searches his room. It isn't often that she shows her more tender side, and while it isn't much; it's still a nice gesture that he appreciates.

"You know, this would go much faster if you tell me where they are," she tells him.

"They're in my medicine cabinet."

Lynn goes into his bathroom and the sound of rummaging can be heard in the room. The sound of bottles being dropped on the floor grabs Francisco's attention and he calls out to her, "What are you doing there?"

"I'm looking for a bottle that isn't expired. How the hell do you call me lazy when all of your bottles are expired and you don't throw them out?"

Francisco scratches his beard, "Just bring me one," he says with a strain in his voice.

Lynn rushes and hands him a pill from the expired bottle, "Is it safe to take it like that? You know, expired and whatnot?"

He quickly takes the pill and answers, "Its fine. Lately, I've been getting my medicine in larger bottle, but it's hard to carry in my pocket, so I put a few in the smaller container from my older prescriptions."

Lynn accepts his words, and asks, "Do you want breakfast?"

* * *

_When Francisco learned that he received a scholarship to attend a small university in California, it never occurred to him that he would run into someone who happens to be from the Royal Woods area. He expected himself to meet people from either the California area or from abroad, and while he is happy to have someone who is from back home, he didn't actively go searching for her to talk in their down time._

_Nearly a whole week has passed since they spoke in the dining hall, and while they would run into each other and exchange pleasantries, their conversations never went further than that; he can't expect that just because they are from the same state that they will just become best friends._

_On Sunday, Francisco takes a walk to the mission, where he sits down for the 10 a.m. sermon. He and his family aren't religious, but upon learning that the school is going to require him to take three religious studies courses, he figures that he can use an hour a week to brush up on what he's forgotten._

_He stares at the podium and doesn't realize the blonde who sits next to him, "Good morning, Francisco."_

_He is startled when he hears her voice, "Good morning, Caroline. How are you doing?"_

_She smiles, "I'm fine. I just thought that it would be nice to unwind mentally before starting classes tomorrow. You?"_

"_I needed a refresher for when I have to take those required classes."_

_The mission begins to fill with worshippers and soon the priest walks up to the podium to commence. As a boy, church was mostly sitting and listening to a sermon that he mostly ignored as he could barely understand Spanish, songs he didn't know how to sing, and being friendly to strangers that he was wary of; now as a young man, he still doesn't know the songs, is still wary of the friendly parishioners, but at least he can understand what was being told to him. _

_After the sermon, the two take a walk, catching up on the week's events._

_Caroline looks over at Francisco and notices the strain in his steps as he walks, "Are you okay?"_

_He nods his head, "Yeah, this happens when I decide to not take my medicine in the morning." He spots a water fountain, "Give me a minute so that I can get some water."_

_Caroline walks along side him, and waits patiently for him to drink water. She is expecting that he will explain why he struggled to walk or why he needs medicine, but when he doesn't, she respects his privacy and doesn't ask._

"_Can I ask you something?" he starts._

"_Sure, what it is?"_

"_Why are you here? I mean why are you attending this school."_

_The question surprises Caroline, and in a cheeky manner asks, "I could ask you the same thing?"_

"_I asked you first," he says with a playful smile._

_She sighs, knowing that he won't answer unless she does, "My dad insisted that he would pay for my schooling, but I didn't want to feel like he would have control over my decisions if I were too close to home, so I decided on a school that was far enough to not worry about weekend visits from my parents, but still close enough that I could fly home for major holidays," Caroline explains._

_Unlike Francisco, who has to rely on a scholarship to fund his education, Caroline's family seems to be financially capable of sending her to whatever school she pleased. If she is able to just pick a school on a whim, he imagines that she's smart, especially based on the school's admissions process._

"_But that doesn't explain why you chose to go here, if you're smart, wouldn't you have chosen to go somewhere a little more prestigious?"_

_Caroline sighs loudly, "I already answered your question, you don't get to ask me another until mine gets answered first."_

"_Baseball scholarship," he quickly says. "Now can you answer my other question?"_

_She sighs, "Fine, I just wanted to get away, be close to the ocean, and not worry about my parents and family. I know that I could have gone somewhere more well-known, but I just didn't want to only be surrounded by a bunch of kids that grew up like I did. I want to have an opportunity to see more than just what my parents have had me see for all my life."_

_Francisco is surprised by the answer. Granted, he didn't know what to expect from her, but he definitely did not expect her to say something like that._

"_Why did you choose to attend school here?"_

"_I told you."_

"_But no other school offered you a scholarship?"_

_He shakes his head._

_The two continue to ask each other questions, and she begins to realize something with him; while she provides him with enough details to answer his questions, she can barely get more than a few muttered words._

_She begins to lead him towards her dorm, "Well, it was nice talking to you."_

_He nods his head, "It was nice talking with you too. I guess I'll see you around campus or something?"_

"_Yeah…maybe…"_

_He agrees, "Yeah…" _

* * *

Caroline checks her phone for any new messages from Francisco, but there aren't any new notifications. For the last couple of days, she had been worrying about him, and what would happen if her suspicions are confirmed; caring for Elena would be simple, explaining what happened would not. She knows she is getting ahead of herself, but she wants to have the right words to say to her daughter.

"Are you still worried about him?" asked Andrew.

She nods.

He doesn't know how to comfort her. He wants to say something that would put her mind at ease, but all he knows about the problem was what Caroline put told him after bringing home Elena on Friday afternoon.

"So, what did you tell him before you left?"

Caroline shakes her head, "I didn't say much. He closed the door after thinking that I was picking her up, then I messaged him and I told him that we needed to talk about what was going on."

Andrew hears some bitterness in her voice as she finishes explaining Friday's events to him, despite having days to take in whatever was going on between the two. He knows that something upsetting happened to bring out some bitterness towards her ex, but for now, he decides that it was best to not ask too many questions.

"Can you do me a favor? Don't bring up anything to Elena, at least until her dad and I figure everything out."

He nods, "Sure…can I ask you about–"

"No," she interrupts. "For now, it's just between me and him."

Andrew sighs. He knows that Francisco's sickness probably wasn't something as simple as a cold or something, but his girlfriend isn't opening up to him. He never bothered her for answers about her previous relationship, but every once in a while, it popped up and his curiosity was piqued.

After waiting long enough without a response, Caroline calls his house phone and he responds. Andrew can't hear what Francisco is saying, but his girlfriend asks to see him in person to discuss what happened last weekend.

"So what's going on?"

"He's coming over in a few minutes. Elena is with my sister, so I figure that this is as good a time as ever to talk."

"Do you want me to stick around? You know, in case things don't go well?"

He isn't sure what to expect, but he at least wants to be supportive in whatever is troubling her with Francisco.

"No, I can handle this…look, I'm sorry, but this is between the two of us."

* * *

_On Saturday, Francisco heads to the fourth floor of his dorm; the staff at the front desk mentioned some events that the building hosts and he is interested to see what the group would be doing on a Saturday afternoon._

_He looks around the floor, and notices some students already waiting and chatting and before someone approaches the lost-looking boy._

"_Hello, how are you?" asks a young woman._

"_Hello," Francisco nervously responds, "I'm doing good."_

_When he didn't say more, the woman asks, "So what brought you in today?"_

"_I was talking with some staff members and they told me about you guys, so I thought, why not?"_

_The young woman happily responds, "Great! Well we meet pretty frequently for homemade dinners, coffee, dessert, bocce ball tournaments, movies, and on weekends we like to take trips off-campus. Would you like to join us today?"_

_Francisco shrugs his shoulders, he doesn't have anything else to do, so he decides that joining them won't be that bad._

_The group takes a walking trip to some nearby shops and as the walking continues, he begins to feel some pain radiating from his back if he moved his legs too much. He drags his feet and tries to keep the pain to himself, so as to not warrant questions from the other students. Some of the students are taking an opportunity to shop, browse, and enjoying people-watching, but he is currently leaning on a brick wall, trying to keep his pain from ruining the others' fun._

"_Where do you guys want to get lunch today?"_

_The other students begin naming restaurants and Francisco looks around, hoping that where they decide to go that it is close, so that he can rest and grab a beverage to drink with his medicine._

_The students decide on a pizzeria and Francisco takes a seat. The students talk to him about an upcoming movie marathon that they are planning, but all Francisco can do is keep his eyes on the waiter to bring him the water that he is craving. _

_During lunch, he notices some of the students chatting and it makes Francisco think that someone may be talking negatively about him. He isn't actively participating and one of the girls is looking at him while talking with her friend. He keeps his eyes on his food and listens to the chatting; he knows that at the moment, he appears to be withdrawn, but he hopes that he isn't also looking like a creep._

_As the students head back to campus, the upperclassmen seem to have quieted their conversations, but Francisco keeps his eyes on the ground. He knows that he isn't very outgoing, but he never assumed that he would struggle so much to converse with other people. He knows that the club members have probably known each other for some time, but he doesn't feel comfortable jumping in without looking silly. It's been so long since he's made friends in a new environment and he feels as though he's forgotten how to do so._

_When the group returns to campus, Francisco realizes that the group may not be for him, at least not alone, but maybe when he starts making new friends with his peers._

* * *

Lynn grabs her car keys and is waiting by the door to go, "Where are we going again?"

"To Caroline's, she said that she wants to talk," he responds from his room.

She walks towards him to check on him, "And you can't do it over the phone?"

Francisco doesn't respond.

Lynn loudly asks again, but when he still doesn't respond, she walks to his room to check on him. She doesn't know what has been going on with him, but she figures that he's probably not feeling fully charged since his accident.

She opens the door quietly and notices Francisco swallowing a pill. She looks at the room for a clock, "Has it really been that long since your last dosage?"

He jumps up slightly in the air and nods his head, "Alright, let's go. I told Caroline that we would be there shortly and I don't want to keep her waiting."

He assumes that she is probably alone in the house, waiting for him to arrive so that she can talk about whatever has been on her mind for days, and he feels as nervous as he did in his childhood whenever his parents scolded him.

"Let's go," he says.

The two walk outside and Lynn opens the door to her car.

"You don't want to take my truck?" Francisco offers.

Lynn shakes her head. While she doesn't mind the idea of using his truck, especially since it's less likely to break down, she doesn't like how close to the steering wheel she has to adjust the seat just to be able to reach the pedals.

"Nah, I'm good, besides, my car is closer to the ground so it's easier for you to get in and out without any hassle."

Francisco silently gets in the car and the two head towards Caroline's house. He begins to give Lynn directions, and she complies, despite wanting to use the GPS on her phone to make things easier.

With a strain in his voice, he tells her, "Turn right here."

He knows that he's nervous; whenever his throat tightens, he knows that he's about to face something that he's not prepared for. Caroline's voice over the phone made is clear that she isn't in a jovial mood, but he takes a deep breath and tries to set his mind at ease.

A loud noise from the engine grabs their attention and Francisco loudly groans. Lynn stops the car and turns it off, and hits the steering wheel in frustration; she doesn't have any tools to fix Dutch, and she can already hear what Francisco is going to say.

"Don't say it," she tells him.

"I think I have to, because you're still so stubborn to stick with this stupid car!" he yells.

Lynn rolls her eyes, "I told you, I'm not getting rid of it! So drop it!"

"I may as well, because apparently you don't care what I have to say, so I might as well save my damn breath!"

Lynn mutters under her breath, "Like that'll ever happen…"

He opens the passenger door and slams it shut upon exiting the vehicle.

Lynn yells from the car, "Where are you going?!"

"To Caroline's! I'll call you when I'm done," he yells as he walks away from her.

He scowls and continues his trek despite the growing pain in his body. He knows that he can wait alongside Lynn, but right now he doesn't to fix Dutch or wait as she mutters obscenities to herself; he just wants to talk with Caroline and get their conversation over with.

Francisco rings the doorbell and waits for her to answer him. He isn't sure of what to expect when he walks through the front door, but he can't imagine that she invited him over to relive the good old days.

Caroline opens the door and invites him inside, "Do you want something to drink, maybe a coffee or something?"

He nods his head, "A coffee would be nice," he says as he takes a seat in her living room. She returns with the beverages, handing him a mug before taking a seat across from him.

The two adults quietly take a sip of coffee and Francisco, who is nervously scratching his beard, asks, "Is-Is Elena around?"

"No," Caroline starts, "she's with my sister. What happened this weekend?" Francisco looks over at her, and she continues, "Chuy told me that you were in a dune buggy accident and Kiké tells me that you're passed out late in the morning. Granted, I can't always take his word, but you know how I feel when he's around."

Francisco raises an eyebrow, "What? What exactly are you assuming is going on?"

"You know what I'm talking about, Francisco. Elena and I show up and you can't remember what day it is, you and the house are a mess, and I know that whenever Kiké is around I shouldn't expect things to go well."

He knows what she's implying, and can't believe that just one brief look at him would be enough to convince her, "I'm not abusing my medication! In case you can't tell, I can barely function on my own physically, my hip hurts from just the short walk that I took getting here, and I can't exactly do much more with a broken arm. Yes, I have to take my medicine. Yes, I struggling with everything that's going on, and while I didn't want him around, he had to help, but only because I can't count on anyone else to just stop what they're doing and help me!"

The two quietly stare at each other. Neither one says a thing, and neither one sure of what the other is thinking after his outburst.

He breaks the silence and asks, "Do you believe me?"

"I don't know, but if you don't start to get a hold of yourself, then maybe we have to rethink our whole relationship…including Elena."

Francisco is surprised by her words, but takes a deep breath and counts to himself, knowing that nothing good will happen if they begin to lose their cool with one another.

* * *

_After the disaster of yesterday's trip, Francisco decides to go back to last week's agenda and heads to the mission for Sunday's sermon. He doesn't know why he's bothering with attending the service, but he doesn't know what else to do with his day other than sit around watching tv or going to the gym._

_Caroline shows up and she quietly greets him as she takes a seat a few rows ahead of him. Francisco understands why she chose to sit away from him, he wasn't the greatest person to talk to last week and he can't imagine that it was easy to her to endure._

_The sermon starts and Francisco ignores the words that are being spoken; he looks around at the door to probably depart earlier than the others._

_Just as he is about to get up, the priest's words begin to strike a chord with him, "…therefore, it is better for two to be together, than for one to be alone. For they have the advantage of their companionship. If one falls, he shall be supported by the other. Woe to one who is alone. For when he falls, he has no one to lift him up…"_

_The priest continues his sermon and Francisco thinks about the verses that he just recited. He can't spend all of his college years alone with just the occasional company of his teammates and roommate; he needs to try to build a rapport with others._

_He looks over at Caroline, who is sitting a few seats away from him. He can't force her to talk to him, but she knows a little more about him than most people on campus._

_As the sermon comes to a close, Francisco gets up from his seat and looks around for the blonde woman. She is currently chatting with some older women, so he turns around after losing his nerve._

'_This is a terrible idea. If she actually wants to talk then we would have talked by now, besides do I really want to go up to her like some creep that can't make friends and is looking at her?'_

_He walks away from the group and heads towards his dorm, but he soon hears her voice call out to him._

"_Francisco, wait up!"_

_He turns around and sees her, "Hey Caroline, how are you?"_

"_I'm good," she responds, "I was hoping that we could have an opportunity to talk and catch up."_

_He smiles a bit, "Yeah that sounds nice."_

_She looks over at him; unlike last week, she doesn't plan on doing all the talking, and wants to see if he will be more willing to open up to her._

"_Do you mind if we sit down?" he asks._

"_Forgot your medicine again?"_

"_Not on purpose, but I wasn't in any pain this morning, so I figured that I should be able to handle an hour more."_

_It isn't much to go off of, but at least it's more than what he was offering the week before. The two talk a little longer about classes, clubs, and their week. The crowd begins to slowly disperse and the two realize how much time had passed. _

_She gets up from her seat, "Do you want to go grab lunch in the dining hall?"_

_He nods his head and smiles, "Sure."_

* * *

Lynn pushes Dutch through the street. She knows that he said that he will call when he's finished talking with Caroline, but he could have left her with an address so that she can find him. She lets go of the car and looks around at all of the houses in the neighborhood; she can't imagine that he could have gone far, but she didn't pay attention to see what direction he went in.

She looks at her phone and presses on his name. Lynn waits for him to respond, but it goes straight to his voicemail. She sighs as she puts her phone away. She opens her trunk and checks to see if there is a possibility that Francisco put some tools inside in case Dutch broke down.

She searches under the blanket, in the milk crate, between the towels, but she can't find anything, "Jeez, I thought that one of us would have thought about putting in some tools back here."

A man's voice grabs her attention, "Do you need some help?"

Lynn, startled by the voice, looks up and sees a man looking at her, "No…maybe…a little…my car is giving me crap."

The man chuckles, "Well if you want I can help push your car to my girlfriend's house. It's not too far from here, and I can probably look at it there."

Lynn didn't want to just randomly follow a man to his 'girlfriend's' house, but with her car in bad shape and with Francisco gone, she nods her head and agrees.

'_I'll be fine…besides, this time I'll actually be at full mental capacity.'_

He tells her, "You can sit down in the driver's seat and I'll push. Just keep your window down and I'll tell you when to turn."

Lynn complies and decides to make some conversation with the man, "My name is Lynn, by the way."

"Andrew," he answers.

He pushes the car, and directs her until they reach the driveway. Andrew rests his head on the truck of Lynn's car and as he catches his breath, asks, "So where are you going?"

"I don't know," she responds, "I'm waiting for a phone call, because my stupid boyfriend couldn't tell me the damn address that he's going to."

He chuckles, "Why don't you call him?"

"He won't answer the phone, so I'll have to just wait until he's done with whatever he's doing."

Andrew checks his pockets, and heads to the side door to open the garage and get a good look at the car, "If you want, we can push the car inside, or do you prefer being out here?"

"It doesn't matter. I just need to get him fixed before my boyfriend gives me crap again," she complains.

He steps out of the garage with a flashlight and a toolbox and gestures her to open the hood of the car, "Again?"

"He keeps telling me to get a new car, but I'm too attached," she tells him, as she pats on a rust spot on the roof of the car.

Andrew doesn't say a thing and inspects the car; he tinkers a bit with the engine, "Do you want to see if it'll turn on?" Lynn places the key in the ignition, and despite the slight difficulty starting, Dutch is doesn't break down. "I'd probably still take it to get checked out though," he suggests.

Lynn turns off the car. Andrew closes the hood and places the tools back in the garage. He turns to see her resting on the hood of the car, and she asks him "So do you live here?"

He shakes his head, "Not really, this is my girlfriend's place."

"Do you think that she'll mind if we go in?"

"She's meeting with her ex and she wanted privacy."

Lynn raises an eyebrow; finding it difficult to believe that he would believe something like that. Granted, she doesn't know his girlfriend, but knowing that she wants to be alone with her ex, made her think of the possibilities.

"It's not what you think. Trust me."

"Are you sure? I mean, I'd be a little worried about my boyfriend alone with his ex, especially since she's successful and they have a kid together."

She's surprised that she admitted that out loud, and to a stranger. She's never admitted this to Francisco, and maybe she is a little jealous of how Caroline's life has been going, but she knows that he isn't the type to stray when things get tough.

Andrew stays quiet, and Lynn apologizes, "Sorry, I didn't mean to make things weird."

"Don't worry, besides if her ex does try anything, I wouldn't mind taking him on," he jokes.

Lynn laughs, "Oh really?"

"I'm kidding, but I'm a black belt, and–"

"Hey! Me too!" she interrupts, "What style? I do kung fu, although I've been wanting to branch out for a while."

He takes a seat next to her, "A little from a few different styles."

Lynn is curious; she doesn't know if he's a braggart, but she decides to push it and ask for more information, "How much is 'a few different styles'?"

"Seventeen different styles."

She excitedly asks, "You know seventeen different styles?!"

"No," he corrects her, "I know techniques from seventeen different styles. I–"

"What belt do you have?"

"A black belt…"

"Do you want to spar?" she asks excited to face another black belt.

Andrew looks around the neighborhood, and despite there being no one in sight, he shakes his head; not wanting to just spar with a stranger that he just met on the street.

"Aww you're no fun," she teases.

"I'd like it call it more like saving your life," he teases back.

Lynn looks at the house, and she remembers why he is outside with her. She's curious about what is going on inside, and she walks over to a window and tries to peer inside.

"Aren't you just a little curious?" she asks.

He looks at her and is surprised, but he can't say that he isn't. For the last couple of days, he's seen Caroline worrying herself about Francisco and he doesn't even know why. Whenever he asks her, she would say that is isn't important, but if it wasn't important, then there wouldn't be a reason for her to not tell him.

He walks over to the house and presses his ear against the door. He tries to listen inside, but can only hear muffled sounds.

Andrew takes his ear off of the door, "Did you see anything?"

"No…but I want to touch the curtain, it looks nice."

The front door opens and grabs the attention of both adults. The two smile and are greeted by a surprised Caroline and Francisco.

"Lynn?"

"Andrew?"

Lynn happily says, "Oh good, now I don't have to go cruising through the neighborhood calling your name out," she tells Francisco.

Francisco walks past Lynn and he steps into the passenger side of the car. He closes the door and just stares forward. The other three silently look at him; Lynn and Andrew are unsure of what transpired between him and a stressed Caroline.

Lynn turns to Andrew, "Well, it was nice talking to you. I should probably get him home," she says as walks towards her car.

Caroline calls out to her, "Lynn, wait," the brunette turns around, "Just be careful."

She doesn't know what to make of those words, and nods her head and gets in the car. The ride back to Francisco's house is long and silent, and Lynn is tempted to ask what happened back at Caroline's, but decides to wait until they are home.

When they walk through the front door, Francisco heads towards his room and Lynn follows behind him. The uncomfortable silence on the ride back made her wonder what he and Caroline talked about, but his silence isn't telling her anything and she wants to help him.

She walks to his room and Lynn opens the door to peer inside. He's sitting on the bed looking down at the floor. She takes a seat next to him and places her arm around his shoulders and asks, "Francisco, are you okay?"

He doesn't say anything.

She leans down to look at his eyes, and sees them staring blankly at the floor. She pulls his face up, and stares into his eyes "Hey…whatever happened just now, you're gonna be okay, you know that, right?"

His eyes soften as he stares into her's. He smiles and pulls her into a passionate kiss.

* * *

**Another chapter done!**

**In my mind, the argument between Francisco and Caroline was meant to be louder and more in-your-face before remembering that neither one is meant to behave like that, but the tougher part was writing Lynn and Andrew, who are about to develop a friendship while being unintentionally alienated by their romantic partners and their past.**

**Now some fun facts**

**\- In keeping with Loud House tradition, Eisner St is named after cartoonist and comic book artist Will Eisner, creator of the unsuccessful **_**Baseball**_ **comic book**

**\- Francisco and Caroline's university and the club mentioned are based on the real world, although with a few creative licenses**

**\- According to the internet, 'Party store' in Detroit lingo for convenience store. I'm not sure how common that really is, but I'm going with it**


	20. Lying and the Unlucky

Lynn stares up at the ceiling. Her mind keeps replaying the same words, _'Be careful when you get emotional. You make stupid decisions.'_ Raffaelina isn't wrong; she knows that she has made some pretty dumb decisions whenever she got emotional. Off the top of her head, she thinks about school, Pop-Pop, and even her old teammates and how they drove her to do something stupid. Before, when she was younger, she would blame the thing that riled her up in the first place, but the older woman reminded her that only she could decide how she handled things.

Now as she looks down at Francisco, she wonders if maybe he has done the same thing; not that she stopped him, and not that she cared for at the time. She isn't sure if the two of them together in his bed is a good idea. She doesn't know what happened between Francisco and Caroline, and seeing him so out of it and her upset, made her feel something that she couldn't describe too well with words.

Lynn thinks about the events that transpired after walking through the door; Francisco walked to his room and she follows after him. His steps weren't as strained, but he was still walking stiffly and she could sense the tension from the car ride. She remembered that she asked him something, and before she knew it, he pulled her into a kiss and they ended up under his sheets.

'_What the heck happened?'_

She wonders. She doesn't know why Caroline wanted to talk to him in person, she doesn't know what they talked about, and she doesn't know why he was tense, but for now she decides to focus on him for a minute as she holds onto him. Her eyes softened upon looking at his sleeping face; he was worried, but he will stubbornly refuse to say anything to anyone. Lynn pulls him closer so that she press his head towards her heart and hoped that the steady beats would calm him down.

His eyes begin to open to look at his surroundings, and notices that he's resting on Lynn, "What time is it?"

Her stomach rumbles, "Almost dinnertime," she laughs. She gets up from bed, "Let me just get dressed and I can probably go get something to eat."

"There's probably pizza in the fridge or something," he tells her.

Lynn shakes her head, "Nah…who even likes cold pizza?" she says, making sure that he can't see her eyes.

When the pizza arrived, the two sit down at the table and silently eat until Lynn asks, "Can I ask you something?"

With a cheeky smile, he says, "You just did."

She laughs sarcastically, "I'm serious," he gestures her to continue, "What happened to you at Caroline's place today?"

He swallows the bite of pizza and looks down at his food. He doesn't want to talk about what happened, especially after hearing what Caroline planned on doing if he didn't 'get his act together'. He couldn't believe that she actually thought that something was wrong with him. For years, things haven't been perfect, but he likes to think that he has been doing a good job as a dad to Elena and as a good friend to Caroline, and now because she insists that he's slipping up, she wants to take Elena from him; he isn't happy.

"Not much, she just brought up the idea of helping me financially after Elena said that she was worried that I didn't have a steady job."

* * *

_Francisco glances over at his watch as he writes down his notes. The numbers on the digital watch are fading, but he can somewhat see that there are only a few more minutes until the bell rings and he can go home. After a day of quizzes and a short presentation, he is ready to go home and relax before hockey practice continues later in the week._

_The bell rings and the students get up from their seats. The hallways begin to fill with students and Francisco heads to his locker where he sees his girlfriend waiting for him with a smile on her face._

"_Hey, how was class today?" he asks as he opens his locker._

"_Not bad," she starts. She notices Francisco placing his book in his locker and decides to ask him, "Do you have anything planned for Thursday?"_

_He stops to think about what is so special about Thursday, but nothing is coming to mind. He's sure that her birthday isn't for a few more months, and his birthday already passed, and he knows that it isn't a silly monthly anniversary that she insists on celebrating._

_Francisco notices that his silence is beginning to bother Mary, "Of course," he lies._

"_Great!" she says happily, almost afraid that he has forgotten the date, "I can't wait to see you then."_

_He nods his head, "Yeah…I'll text you the details," he tells her; hoping to remember why Thursday is so special._

_Mary is aware that Francisco isn't the most affectionate boyfriend, or even the most willing to go along with romantic gestures, but she is still happy to know that he has still planned something for the two of them. She happily pulls him into a hug and gives him a brief kiss, before heading out to catch the bus._

_He watches her leave and asks himself, "What's Thursday?"_

"_Valentine's Day," Margo responds._

_Francisco turns around and sees Lynn and Margo, who has knowing look on her face. He can't believe how quickly Valentine's Day snuck up on him. Normally, the holiday was just another day for him, but with a girlfriend this year, he knows that he has to think of something for her. _

_Lynn, surprised by the revelation, "Already? Yes! That makes Friday even better!" she declares. "Wait…you forgot, didn't you?"_

_The girls both stare at him until he cracks, he whispers, "Yes, I forgot." He looks around to make sure that Mary isn't within earshot, "It's not like I celebrated it much before."_

"_But you have a girlfriend and she may want to celebrate it, right Lynn?" asks Margo._

_The two friends turn to Lynn and chuckle as their chocolate-loving friend stares at the lockers while dreaming of discounted chocolate._

_With Lynn still distracted, Margo asks, "So do you have any idea of what you can do at the last minute?" _

_Francisco closes his locker, "I don't know. I can't imagine that there's a lot I can do with only a few days before Valentine's Day, and now–"_

_Lynn interrupts, "Do you think the skating rink will be giving out hot chocolate again?"_

"_Will you forget about–" the light bulb goes off in Francisco's head. The skating rink! It's not personal, but it's a decent place for a teenage date and with a dinner at a sit-down restaurant, he's sure that the whole thing can work out._

_Lynn notices the relieved look on Francisco's face, she asks Margo, "What's with him?"_

"_I think you gave him an idea on how to save his night."_

_Francisco begins to think of some other ideas that can be done on the fly. A movie? Easy, but crowded; luckily tickets can be bought early. A stroll through the park? Wait, no, it's too cold._

"_Also, my dad is doing a whole thing for Valentine's Day at the restaurant. There's supposed to be flowers, and music, and a lot of other gushy stuff that my sisters suggested to him. If you want, I can tell him to reserve a table for the two of you," Lynn offers._

"_Really? You can do that?" he asks, happy that she brought up her dad's restaurant._

_Lynn nods her head, "Yeah, just text me the time, and I'll let him know."_

* * *

Over the next few days, Lynn decides to stick around and help Francisco around the house. For most of the day, he quietly spends his time reading or keeping track of Lisa's charts, however Lynn's constant presence is beginning to bother him. He knows that he has some difficulties moving around and doing things with his right arm, but he doesn't need her almost hovering around him whenever he moved. Before, when his brother was around, he could tell him how annoyed he was, but there's no win with telling her the same thing.

Francisco's eyes are on Lynn, who is currently snacking on a bag of cheese puffs; the crumbs and her cheesy fingers are staining the recliner, and he can feel a headache coming on as he holds his tongue.

Lynn offers the bag to him, "Do you want some?"

Through his teeth, he tells her, "No…"

The soccer game continues on tv and Francisco's head feels as if it's swelling from all the noise around him. Annoyed, he asks, "Aren't you planning on going to work any of these days?"

She stops biting her snack, surprised by his tone, "Excuse me?"

"You've been here every day for a week and you've never left by yourself, except to go to the grocery store, don't you have a job to go to?"

Lynn scowls. Despite not telling him that she hasn't had a steady job since last year, she doesn't like the tone in his voice. She understands that he's frustrated with her constant presence and possibly annoyed that he isn't at one hundred percent physically, but that isn't a reasonable excuse to be upset.

"So you don't want me around to help? If you don't remember, your house was a mess when I came in a week after your accident, and you're telling me that you don't want someone around to help you?"

He takes a deep breath and thinks of his words carefully, "I mean, I don't want you to get in trouble at work for missing days because of me. I can handle a few hours alone."

Lynn isn't sure to believe him. She knows that he'll lie in an effort to save his ass and avoid making things worse, but she doesn't have an actual reason to not believe him. She opens her mouth, and remembers the state of his home, his broken phone that was found in the hallway, and the stare that he refuses to tell her about.

She decides to push him a little, and sarcastically says, "Yeah, right. Do you actually think that?"

Offended, he responds, "I'm serious! Do you think that I want to see you get in trouble just because you're so damn thick-headed and can't leave me alone!"He immediately realizes what he says, "Lynn, I di–"

"Fine! I'll get out of your damn hair!" Lynn interrupts as she gets up from her seat and stomps outside, "Jeez, what the hell is bugging him?"

The sound of a buzzing from her phone grabs her attention; she doesn't recognize the number, but she opens the text.

**Sorry to bother you, but I wanted to privately message to you about Francisco**

* * *

_He looks around the house for his parents, but he can't find either one. He opens the door to the backyard, where the sound of a nail gun grabs his attention. He runs towards the noise, and sees his brothers working in the garage._

"_Hey Chuy," the eldest brother looks up, "Can I ask you something?"_

"_Yeah, what is it?"_

"_Is there any chance that you can let me borrow your truck on Thursday?"_

_The older brother looks at his little brother, he's never asked him to borrow his car, so he doesn't have much reason to say no, but at the same time, he's still a new driver with less than two full months of experience._

"_Dang Pancho, you don't think that Chuy may have a date on Thursday?" Kiké asks._

_Francisco doesn't respond. He honestly didn't think that his brother would, considering that he rarely talks about his romantic life. Both older brothers are staring at Francisco, waiting to see what he would say._

"_That's not why I need the truck. I've got a hockey practice and it's going to run late and you know how mom is about picking me up late in the winter." _

"_¡Mentiroso!" Kiké declares. "If you're going to lie, at least make it a good one."_

"_I'm not lying!" Francisco declares. "I really do have hockey practice that's going to run late, and you know that mom hates leaving the house when it's really cold outside. So I'd rather just borrow somebody's truck and drive myself home."_

_Kiké rolls his eyes; while most of what his brother said was true, he knows that it isn't a coincidence that his younger brother wants to borrow a truck on Valentine's Day._

_The two older brothers stare at each other, and Chuy asks Kiké, "¿Quéfé pifienfensasfas?"_

"_Nofo se fe. Afalofomefejorfor sifi tefe sufupliflicafarafa," Kiké snickers._

_Francisco begins to grow frustrated; even after all these years, he still hasn't picked up how to understand his brothers when they speak in code. _

_Chuy shakes his head; there isn't any point in making his brother beg him just because he wants the truck to go on a date, "Alright, but clean up the inside," he tells Francisco, as he tosses over the keys._

_Francisco catches them and quickly runs to the truck. When he opens the door, he is surprised by the fast food wrappers, receipts, loose tools, and the smell, "What the hell did you do?"_

_Chuy chuckles, "Sorry Pancho, but I didn't think that you would want to borrow my truck for Valentine's Day."_

_The youngest sternly tells his brother, "That's not why I'm borrowing it." The look on both brothers' faces made it clear that he can deny all he wants, but they aren't going to believe it, "Fine! It is for Valentine's Day. Now leave me alone so that I can clean this pigsty." _

_When he was younger, Chuy would normally get his dad chastising him for keeping a messy truck, and he's almost snickering at how Francisco has picked up the same trait from him; although he can't blame his younger brother, the truck cab is messy._

_He grabs a trash bin and places it near Francisco, so that it can make his job a little easier, "So where are you and Lynn going?"_

_Kiké makes a gagging sound, and the younger brother tosses a Burpin' Burger bag full of trash at him, "I'm not going with Lynn, I'm going with my girlfriend," Francisco corrected._

_Even after months of dating Mary, his brothers insist that he's dating Lynn or Margo; after so many years, he goes along with it, but with an actual girlfriend, he wishes that his brothers would acknowledge her._

_Kiké leans on the truck, "Well we never see your girlfriend, and at least we know what part of your harem looks like."_

_Chuy lightly shoves him, "Stop messing with him. He's bigger and almost taller than you now and I doubt that he hasn't learned a thing or two from hockey."_

_The middle brother rolls his eyes, "All I'm saying is, he doesn't really talk about his 'girlfriend', but he definitely mentions Margo and little sweat monster."_

_Chuy grabs Francisco's shoulder, "You can get him later. Just finish, so you don't have much to do on Thursday."_

_Kiké asks, "So where are you taking your girlfriend?"_

_Francisco shrugs his shoulders, "I'm not entirely sure, but Lynn offered a reservation at her dad's restaurant and she suggested the skating rink."_

_Both older brothers look at each other. They know that Francisco isn't the type to talk much about his personal life, but even with a girlfriend, he mentions his other friends more than the girl that he's dating. For years, they expected him to start dating one of them, but he instead went with a random girl whom he never spoke about._

"_You really don't hang out with a bunch of guys, do you?" the eldest brother starts, "There's a bunch on your teams, but it seems like you only hang out with the girls."_

_Francisco groans, "It's always the same thing with them; girls, baseball, and…" he murmurs the last part._

"_What?" the two brothers ask._

_Francisco pulls out his house keys from his pants pocket and shows them the little baseball bat keychain attached. Kiké laughs, "Are you serious? We're all guys. I think you can say–"_

_The youngest brother tosses his keys at him and goes back to cleaning._

* * *

Lynn wakes up to the sound of her alarm. She spent the night on the couch under the guise that she was still mad at Francisco, but she wants to talk to Lisa before he gets up. After texting with Caroline and living with him for a week, Lynn was beginning to wonder what is going on with him. He's moodier than usual and despite his best efforts to find out, she's sure that something else is going on with him.

She steps outside and scrolls through her phone; looking for Lisa's name.

"Salutations, fifth eldest sister, how are you doing this morning?"

"I-I'm fine," she's beginning to feel regret about calling Lisa, but remembers that all she wants is for Francisco to get some help, and her less emotional sister is probably the best route to get him to open up.

"I need to talk to you about Francisco."

There is silence on the other line until Lisa speaks, "Is he okay?"

"I don't know," responded Lynn on the phone. "He's been off lately."

"I'm going to need a more detailed response than just 'off', you understand that, right?" Lisa said over the phone. Typically the second youngest Loud wouldn't be so concerned about the details of her siblings and their emotional woes, but she did have to keep some sort of tabs on her employee.

"I think she said that he was really tired and confused, and he's moodier than usual."

Lisa notes the information that her sister, "Who's she?"

Lynn wonders why Lisa cares, "His ex. She said something about him now knowing what day it was, he was disoriented, and he seemed to be tepre-metal."

"Temperamental," Lisa corrects, she nods her head, "I see. Has he been displaying these symptoms for long?"

"I don't know. Caroline just said that she noticed last Friday, but that he's been hurt since the Saturday before that."

"Hurt? How?"

"A broken arm and leg and some stitches, you know, nothing too big."

Lisa jots down the notes, "What caused the injuries that he sustained?"

"A dune buggy accident. Look, is it going to interfere with his job, I want to know before we both waste our time heading to the lab."

The scientist has an idea about the sudden symptoms that Francisco was exhibiting, but she can't blindly guess based on the word of her older sister; she has to see it for herself.

"Lisa, are you still there?"

"Affirmative, I need you to arrive at the university lab tomorrow at 8am. I will need to keep track of these changes for my study logs."

Lynn groans at the thought of having to be up and ready early in the morning for something that could easily be done over the phone.

"Study logs? Why do you need study logs for?" Lynn asks, "I thought that he was your assistant."

Lisa's heart races, neither she nor Francisco knew the true nature of his job, and she doesn't want to risk losing him, "The projects that my colleagues and I work on risks exposure to pathogenic microorganisms and we need to keep track of the health of any employee that works inside the facility."

Lynn isn't sure whether to believe her or not; if her childhood had taught her anything, it is the Lisa was prone to lying and using those around her as experimental guinea pigs. At the moment, Lynn wished that the two were in talking in person, so that she could hopefully read her sister, but she settles with waiting until tomorrow morning.

"Alright, we'll see you tomorrow," Lynn sighs, not only is she stuck having to wake up early in the morning, she has to worry about what, if anything, Lisa will find to be the cause of his sudden issues.

Lynn looks through the window and sees him stumbling a bit in his steps, and she tells herself that she is doing the right thing by having him see Lisa.

* * *

_Francisco pulls into the parking lot of the restaurant. Lynn told him that her dad arranged an early reservation that they could use almost immediately after school, so that they can avoid the crowds. _

_Mary looks at the restaurant. The last time that she ate here, she and her family saw Lynn working at the front counter, and she is a little nervous about possibly seeing her. She knows that Francisco and Lynn have been friends for years, but she wonders why he would bring them here when she has given him hints that she's not comfortable around the brunette athlete. _

"_So, have you been here before?"_

_He nods, "Yeah, I usually come here after a baseball game in the summer. Personally, I think Mr. Loud is a little generous with his friends' discount, but Lynn insists that he won't take our money, so long as we're here together."_

_She grows silent and hopes that he can see it on her face._

_Kotaro walks up to the table with water and to take the couple's order, and when he walks away, Mary asks, "Do you want to exchange gifts now or wait until later?"_

_Francisco chokes a bit on his water. He forgot a getting her a present! He spent the last couple of days getting things ready for the date that blanked on getting her a gift in return._

"_Um…we can wait until later," he slowly tells her._

_Francisco looks around and hopes to see if there was anything in the restaurant that he could quickly buy, but he scolds himself for thinking that a last-minute gift would solve his problem. He looks over at her, and notices that her gift can't be large, if she had it hidden in her purse._

"_Are you okay?" she asks, concerned with his fidgeting._

"_Yeah," he assures her, "I'm just looking at the artwork over on the wall," he says pointing to a small framed sheet of paper that Lynn and her siblings made for the restaurant opening. She told him that it was a secret at first, and that the siblings wrote a good luck message on a misprinted flyer, which was framed to blend together with the décor. According to Lynn, it took their dad days to notice, and he happily keeps it up to remember his large family._

_She turns around to see the note, but turns around when their food arrives, "Wow! This looks delicious," she declares._

_Francisco looks down at the food, "Wow, when I was told about the Valentine's Day special here, I didn't know what to expect, I'm glad we came."_

_She smiles and offers him a bite from her plate, but he begins to eat from his own plate; no noticing the gesture that she was making._

"_So how did you find out about the special?"_

"_On their website."_

_After they finished their meal, Francisco drove her to the skating rink and noticed the abundance of cars in the parking lot._

"_The skating must be really fun here or these people really like free hot chocolate," he jokes._

_Mary laughs and two walk inside. The rink is playing slow music, and is decorated with cheesy decorations, such as red and pink hearts and little cupids hanging from the rafters. This is isn't what Francisco has in mind, but he knows that this is the sort of thing that she enjoys._

_After getting their skates and going around the rink for a few laps, the couple heads towards the stands to sit down and drink their hot chocolate._

_Mary looks around at the other teenage couples, most are holding hands together, sharing snacks from the concession stand, and lovingly staring into each other's eyes; meanwhile, Francisco is just looking around at the other rink patrons. While they skated together, he didn't initiate much contact with her, but assumes that he was shy around all of the other skaters._

_She makes an attempt at holding his hand again, but he jumps a bit and moves his hand away from her's, "Sorry, I thought you were someone else," he says._

_She sighs. He's so unaffectionate, even when no one is looking right at them and it makes her wonder if he really is as interested in their relationship as she is, "Francisco, are you okay?"_

"_Yeah," he tells her, "why do you ask?"_

"_Well, you're just a little distant," she admits._

_He's surprised that she is saying that. He thinks that he's been behaving the same since the beginning of their relationship, and the only change that he's aware of in his life is that he and his friends don't hang out as much like they did before he started dating._

"_Well, I don't think that I'm being distant, I think that I'm acting the same."_

"_Really? Francisco, look around us, look at all the couples, and how we're the only ones who look like a pair of friends instead."_

_He looks at all of the couples. Growing up, he never saw much physical affection from the adults around him, and he assumed that it was normal, unlike the teens who behaved like the stereotypes on tv or in the movies, "It's not a big deal, and you knew from the beginning that I'm not the type to show a lot of physical affection," he tells her._

"_I bet if I was Lynn you would," she whispered._

"_What is that supposed to mean?"_

"_Nothing, I don't want to fight."_

_Both sit quietly, until she continues, "Tell me the truth, do you think of me as a romantic partner?"_

_He's surprised by the question, but he stops to think about her question and when she notices the hesitation in his response, she gets up, "I'm going to call my mom to come pick me up."_

"_Mary, wait!" he calls her, but she doesn't turn around and continues towards the exit._

* * *

Francisco limps down the hallway towards Lisa's office alone. Lynn wanted to accompany him, but he insisted that he is able to handle a simple meeting with her younger sister. He isn't sure why Lisa wants to meet in the office instead of the laboratory, but before he could ask on the phone, she hung up on him. He tries to put it behind him; after all, Lisa isn't necessarily known for her warm and inviting nature.

He knocks on the door, and hears Lisa say, "Enter."

He walks in, and she closes her laptop; she has a stern look on her face as she gestures him to take a seat.

"How are you doing today?" she asks; the sound in her voice unnerved him.

Francisco doesn't know how to respond, and swallowed as he tried to speak, "Things are well."

She looks at his casts, and stands up from her seat. Without saying a word, she approaches him and gets uncomfortably close to him. He doesn't know what she is looking at for, if anything, but she writes down notes in her note pad, and continues her inspection.

"What happened?"

"A-A dune buggy accident. I was trying to avoid some–"

"What did the doctors say about your broken bones?" she interrupts.

Francisco tries to recall what the doctor said, but he couldn't remember all the details, "Just to get them removed in a few weeks."

Lisa sighs. Lynn mentioned that he was rather forgetful these last couple of days, but at the moment, she decides that the shock from the accident and possible head injury made him forget anything that the doctor may have mentioned to him.

"Did the doctor prescribe you anything?"

Francisco swallows, and shakes his head.

Lisa doesn't believe him. She grabs the side of his face and stares at him, waiting to see if he would crack, "You know that I can test your blood and determine if you are lying to me, right?"

"He gave me some pain medicine," he said. "It's different from what I usually take though."

Lisa stares into his eyes before letting go of his head, "Do you happen to know the name or have the prescription on you?"

Francisco pulls out the amber bottle and hands it to her. Lisa takes note of the name and dosage of the medicine that he is taking.

She retrieves a bottle of water from a mini fridge, "And that is combined with?" she continues.

"The medicine that you gave me."

He isn't sure what she has her so concerned, but all he could do at the moment is focus on the water bottle in her hands.

"Would you like one?"

He nods. Lisa hands him a bottle and he swallows the contents as quickly as possible; which stuns her.

"Well," she starts. "The reason for the questions was due to Lynn's concern over your behavior changes. She–"

"What behavior changes?! When did she say anything about that?"

Lisa raises her eyebrow and mentally makes a note of his reaction.

"I swear, I'm a little off and suddenly I'm the bad guy! Yes, I'm frustrated, but only because everyone around me acts as if I'm helpless and frustrated because I can't have an off week without people around me assuming that I'm mentally descending into chaos!"

Lisa notices his fingers slightly gripping his hair, she pulls down an eye chart, "Can you read the chart for me please?"

"What?"

"Just close your left eye and read to me the smallest line that you can," she commands.

He complies, "I can read is L-I-L-E-I-Z-K-E-W-L…wait, is that supposed to say 'Lily is cool'?"

Lisa looks over at the chart and confirms that his sight is fine and that her younger sister has been tampering with her eye chart again.

She pulls out a stethoscope, "It isn't intentional, but I will reprimand her later today." She presses the diaphragm by his heart, "Take a deep breath," she instructs him. His heart rate is slower than usual, but she doesn't disclose that to him.

"Is there anything wrong?"

She shakes her head, "No, but as of today, consider your employment temporarily terminated."

Francisco's heart stops, "What?"

"It's temporary, but I can't risk you presenting any sort of danger until we can get this sorted out."

"All because of a few casts? You can't be serious!?"

It isn't because of the casts, but she doesn't want to mention what her real motives were, "Your dominant arm is broken, and you struggle to walk while your leg is in the cast, and aside from the hazard, you will have greater difficulties performing your duties, and I can't risk you or any of the other personnel facing harm based on your current predicament. When you are no longer in casts and consuming the medicine that the doctor prescribed to you, then we can reinstate your employment."

* * *

_He looks over at the patrons by the concession stand enjoying a cup of hot chocolate. The couples are clearly enjoying themselves and he's sitting around, upset at what happened minutes earlier._

_Francisco looks at the skating on the rink. There's no point in him being around anymore, but he doesn't have anywhere to go; he thinks about taking a drive into the city, but he knows that he's just going to be driving around without a destination in mind._

_He's disappointed that his relationship is probably ending, especially the way it did, but he's sort of relieved that he doesn't have to worry about her jealousy towards Lynn. Since the beginning of the relationship, he noticed that she can be a bit insecure around her, but he didn't think that it was so bad that she would end it because he got some suggestions from Lynn and because he's not as affectionate as she would like him to be._

"_It's not like Lynn is interested in me anyway. Why did you have to be jealous of something that isn't even there?" he asks the empty space next to him. "I'd understand if Lynn didn't respect our relationship or tried to even sabotage us, but she didn't. I should be mad at you, but I'm just happy that I don't have to worry about you pulling my arm, randomly kissing me, or being the reason that my friends didn't talk to me as much," he closes his eyes, "Maybe I am better off not being in a relationship."_

"_Who are you talking to, mister?"_

_Francisco turns around and sees a little girl staring at him. He was saying his frustrations and everything that he wanted to say to Mary's face out loud, but to other people, he just looked like some weirdo talking to himself. _

"_Um…just practicing my lines for a play," he lies to the girl._

_He gets up and grabs one last hot chocolate before heading towards the truck. He still doesn't know where he wants to go, so he settles for sitting in the truck and listening to music on his phone._

"_I guess this is what I get for having friends," he complains. Francisco groans, "Why am I blaming her? Because I'm mad, and why am I even mad at a girl for a relationship that I barely even wanted," he sighs. He knows that he could have been a better boyfriend or at least told her the truth sooner instead of leading her on for months in a relationship that wasn't going anywhere._

_He realizes that he shouldn't be blaming her; she didn't do anything wrong, all she wanted was a boyfriend, and he definitely wasn't that, "I'll apologize to her tomorrow or after she cools down for a bit…"_

_Francisco sets down the drink and turns on the truck. He pulls out of the parking lot and decides to head home for the night, "There's no point in moping or being out anyway…"_

_A girl's voice calls out to him from the street, "Hey! Francisco!"_

_He turns his head, looking for the source of the voice, and he sees Lynn, who is clad in hockey gear, smiles at him and waves at him._

_He can't believe that she is out walking in the streets alone. Francisco pulls up next to her, "Do you want a ride?"_

* * *

Lynn pulls into the parking lot of the casino. She doesn't like coming here unless it's absolutely necessary, but she is the reason that Francisco is currently out of work.

'_Me and my big mouth,' _she thinks.

Her intention, when she called Lisa, was just to see if she could see what was wrong with him, not temporarily fire him for an undisclosed period of time. Clearly he was angry since he lost his temporary means of financial stability, but she knows the perfect way to fix it.

She steps out of the car, and walks towards the front door. The bright lights and sounds of humans and machine overtake her, Lynn pats her front pocket, telling herself to play until she has enough money to help Francisco and pay her own bills.

As she walks around the casino floor, Lynn tries to calculate how much she will need; it doesn't matter if she is a bit short, she can always come back, but she wants to ensure that she has his money first. Lynn sits down in front of a slot machine, and takes out a quarter. She checks the back to ensure that it isn't her lucky 2004 quarter, and after her brief inspection, she puts the quarter into the slot and pulls on the lever. The reels are spinning, but Lynn tries to not focus on that; all she needs is just the few coins that would come out of this machine to get started.

The slot machine flashed and coins begin to fall into the coin tray. Lynn grabs her coins and walks to another machine; there is no science or thought process in her game playing, just get up, walk around and play whatever strikes her fancy.

She pulls a coin out of her cup and pulls the lever on another slot machine, and once again, coins fall into the tray. Lynn jiggles the coin cup and plays another round before making an attempt at one of the larger games.

Two women step into the casino; one in glasses and one with a large wig. The one in glasses and a large hat keeps her eyes to the floor, as she tries to avoid eye contact with the casino personnel and the woman with the wig struggles to keep up with her partner.

"So explain to me why you do this?" asks Lily as she arranges her wig properly.

Lisa sighs, "Science is underfunded and to ensure proper funding, I sometimes need to take advantage of my knowledge of probability and games of chance."

Lily shrugs her shoulders. She understands her reason why; after all, Lisa can't always count on earning grant money to pay for her experiments and for her well-paid test subjects. Although, the idea that Lisa would actually go into a casino to win a large amount of money rather than write grant proposals is hilarious to the youngest Loud.

"Should I ask about why we need to be in disguise?"

Lisa struggles to think of the right words to tell her younger sister. In the past, she's been accused of counting cards and taking advantage of her knowledge of probability to ensure that she wins, a practice which casinos don't take too kindly of, especially from someone underage. However lately, Lisa has taken to the practice of disguising herself to keep staff from discovering her identity.

"It's a long story, younger sister," Lisa assures her.

The two sisters take a seat and recognize Lynn sitting at the same table. The older sister has a decent stack of chips and has a blank expression on her face as dealer deals out her cards.

"Sixteen," says the dealer.

"Hit me," Lynn says as she hears a snicker from a woman hiding herself in a big hat.

"You've got twenty."

"Hit me."

The women gasp; clearly shocked that Lynn would do such a thing when the dealer was showing a nine. They are both aware that their older sister can be reckless, but she's wagering a lot of money when she can easily win with the cards that she currently shows.

"Twenty-one," said the dealer, shocked by Lynn's luck.

"Yeah!" she screams excitedly.

Lisa is ready to chastise her older sister for her juvenile antics, but she doesn't want Lynn to expose her and Lily.

Lily, in a fake debutant accent, asks, "My, aren't you lucky? Are you gonna play again?"

Lynn stops to think about it, "You know, I wasn't, but why not, you two old ladies are probably good luck charms."

Lily bites her lip, "Of course…"

The three are dealt two cards, and while Lisa tries to think of the possible outcomes when the dealer is showing a king.

"Hit me!" Lynn declares, as she places a one hundred dollar chip on her five and seven."

The dealer raises an eyebrow and hands Lynn her two cards, "Nineteen."

Lily goes along Lynn's confidence and asks for another card, despite showing a sixteen, but she is immediately busted when she is dealt the next card.

Lisa stares at her cards and keeps an eye on the dealer's hands. She has studied all of the techniques, and even taken an online class to learn the tricks of the trade. Unlike her older sister, she doesn't plan on making a large wager for the time being, and instead chooses to focus on the decks in the shoe.

"Hit me!" Lynn declares.

Once again, Lisa is surprised by her sister's reckless gambling habit, but is even more surprised that she dealt a two.

"Alright!" Lynn smiles, and happily takes her winnings from the dealer. She turns to the women, "You gotta play with no fear, that's how you win," she tells her disguised sisters, as she walks away.

The woman in the big hat snorts and continues paying attention to her own cards. The woman in the wig said out loud, "And here I thought she was only good for sports and board games."

"Silence younger sister! I can't focus with you babbling on about our fifth eldest sister."

Lynn walks to the window to exchange her chips. As she receives her money and counts it, she double-checks it to be sure that she didn't accidentally make a mistake, _'3500 dollars!? What the hell am I going to do? Nope. Nope. Nope. This is not happening again, Lynnsanity!'_ She panics. She doesn't need this much money, and she sure as hell isn't going to walk out with an extra thousand dollars in her pockets.

She walks around the casino trying to think of what she could do, and she remembers the mad woman who sat next to her at the blackjack table.

"She was pretty pissed off at me for being lucky and winning, who knows, maybe she'll appreciate it," she convinces herself.

Lynn runs through the crowds of people, machines, and tables and is able to spot the same woman at the same spot, who is angrily slamming her fist on the table.

She taps on the woman's shoulder, "Here," she hands her a thousand dollars, "you seem like you need some luck today."

The woman hesitates to take the money, but her younger friend happily takes the money, "Thank you!"

Lily looks at the money and counts it, "Wow! A thousand dollars!? Why the heck is she just giving this away?"

Lisa growls as the blackjack dealer set down a card and she busts once again. She grinds her teeth, and takes a deep breath before walking away from the table; hoping to calm her head after witnessing her older sister's shenanigans.

"C'mon let's go hit the buffet or something, it's on Lynn."

* * *

**Woo! The arc is over!**

**When I planned this, I didn't realize how many chapters were based on just a short time period, especially considering that I usually have the short time jumps in the modern story, but it had to be done to keep the story moving forward. **

**Throughout the story, I was trying to make it clear that Francisco is not the mushy romantic type that we see with Bobby and Lori, and considering that Lynn is not interested in that sort of stuff either, it works for this pair, but unfortunately for sixteen-year-old Francisco, it just ended with a breakup. Which is fine, but keep this chapter in mind when part two pops up.**

**There is a story there with Lisa and the casino, and even some of the other sisters and their individual lives as they grew up, but none are planned as extensively as this story. However, those tales are for another day.**

**Until next time!**


	21. Dutch and the Challenge

Francisco listens to the sound of water coming from the speakers. The smell of incense is bothering his nose; despite meditating with Jackson for weeks, he still could not get used the smell of those damn incense sticks. Francisco opens one eye and notices his neighbor quietly focusing on his meditation, whereas he is struggling to get comfortable without having to worry about the pain caused by sitting down on the floor for over an hour.

"Francisco, try to empty your mind of all thoughts," Jackson says, as if sensing the younger man's distress.

That's easier said than done. Despite going through weeks of meditation with his neighbor in the early morning hours, he cannot get into the rhythm of it. He started this in hopes that he could calm his mind and heart from all the stress that he's been experiencing lately, but all he did was focus more and more on Caroline's words, Lynn, Elena, pain, snow, work and his parents.

Jackson opens his eyes and looks at his neighbor, who is clearly struggling with the meditation exercise, as beads of sweat begin to trickle down his forehead, his breathing quickens and his lips are quivering.

"The Tigers are looking good this year," he doesn't know much about sports, aside from what Francisco has told him, but he hopes that he could at least distract the younger man a bit.

"Um, I guess…" Francisco knows what Jackson was doing; never in the years that the two men have known each other, have they ever talked about sports, especially since the older man doesn't even own a television or many other modern electronics.

Jackson stands up and helps Francisco to his feet. The younger man leans against furniture in pain, he thinks about reaching for the medication in his pocket, when Jackson asks, "Would you like a massage to relieve your back?"

Francisco shakes his head. He is sure that the older man probably has some knowledge in message therapy or something of the sort, but at the moment, no matter what Jackson decides to try, Francisco knows that his body is going to ache worse than it is now.

"You know, when I backpacked through southeast Asia in my youth, I picked up some interesting techniques to relieve back pain."

Francisco smiles, "Was that when you were training with the monks? I swear, Jackson, what haven't you learned to do?"

From what Francisco could remember, his neighbor has traveled the world and seen and done all sorts of interesting things ranging from hunting with tribes, to racing against camels while on bike, and even spending time with monks in temples; if you asked Francisco, it was definitely a life well lived as both a teacher and a student of his surroundings.

"I don't think that I've ever been able to master the art juggling chainsaws," he tells the younger man.

Francisco shudders at the thought of trying to juggle such a prop, although he can imagine that his neighbor has made an attempt to do so…safely, he's sure.

Jackson leads Francisco to the kitchen. As the younger man sits down by the table, Jackson fills his tea kettle with water. This is the part that Francisco hates; he isn't a big tea drinker, but the older man insists that it will help after meditating.

An empty cup is placed in front of Francisco, and as Jackson waits for the water to come to a boil, he speaks up, "So what was distressing you today?"

He never asks Francisco that. Usually, the two would talk about their plans for the day, or sit in a comfortable silence, but today, Jackson is throwing him a curve ball and asking about what happened during meditation.

Francisco shakes his head; honestly, he wasn't too sure either. His thoughts were jumping all over the place, but he isn't sure what any of it meant; the last thing he remembered before Jackson started talking about the Tigers was snow, but he doesn't know why that popped up with everything else.

"I don't know…it was just…snow…"

Jackson nods, but didn't pry anymore, knowing that Francisco does not enjoy going down his train of thought.

The two sit in silence as they wait for the kettle.

* * *

_Lynn, Megan, and Bryton head towards the Good Time Charley's. Today is Megan's twenty-first birthday and the trio plans on celebrating at the bar. While Lynn isn't able to fully participate in the festivities, the group still plans on making it a fun night for the birthday girl with barrage of appetizers, bar food, and drinks._

_The trio sits down and the two older members peruse the drink menu._

"_Do you know what you want?" Bryton asks Megan._

_She bites her lower lip as her eyes scan the menu, "I don't know. I've planning this for so long, and now I can't decide."_

_Lynn looks over her friend's shoulder and places her finger on the menu, "Close your eyes, and tell me when to stop," she suggests, as her finger goes up and down the drink menu._

_Megan complies, once she is sure that Lynn has gone through the whole drink menu, she says, "Stop!"_

_Lynn closes the menu before Megan can see what she picked. She shows it to Bryton, and he nods to go get the drinks, "See! Easy!"_

_With their orders taken, the trio takes a seat nearby; the last time the group visited the establishment was back during Bryton's birthday, but like their previous visits, Lynn's eyes begin to glance over towards the television screens around them._

"_Alright!" Bryton starts, "Twenty-one, are you excited?" he asks Megan._

"_I guess, but did sort of want to do something a little more unique," she says._

_Neither Lynn nor Bryton can blame her; getting drunk is such a stereotype, but without a car or a lot of money, the group settles on celebrating in one of the easiest ways they could. _

"_Hey Lynn-tin-tin, promise to be good and sober so that we can have a little more fun?" Bryton jokes._

"_Ha ha," Lynn says sarcastically, as she rolls her eyes. Unfortunately due to still being underage, she can't join her friends and has to settle for looking at the pub menu and filling up on as much pop as she can stomach._

_She gets up from her seat, "I'll be right back. I'm gonna go get something to get started." She walks up so that she can place in her order, "Can I get a large order of wings, nachos with meat, and a pitcher of orange pop."_

_Some frat boys at the counter, "They always make the little one the gopher," he jokes. _

_Lynn turns to them, "I'm no gopher! This is all for me," she tells them proudly. _

"_You're kinda small, are you seriously going to eat all that food you jut ordered?"_

"_What you don't think that I can?"_

"_I bet that you can't," he smugly tells her._

"_Oh yeah? You wanna put your money where mouth is? Hell I can eat even more!" she brags._

_The boys each dig out some crumpled bills from their pockets. None of them can believe that she is so smug that she can eat so much for by herself._

"_We can make it interesting. If you can eat everything you ordered and some loaded monster fries, we'll pay for your food and give you twenty bucks each, as long as you don't throw up," he offers._

"_Deal!" Lynn happily accepts, and orders the loaded monster fries._

"_Hey! We didn't tell you what'd you do if you lose," he tells her._

_Lynn scoffs, "I'm not planning on losing on something as easy as this." _

_He steps back, "Alright, but you'll owe us twenty bucks each if you lose, don't forget."_

_She gets in his face, "I won't, 'cause I ain't no loser," she tells him, as she takes her tray of food back to the table with her friends._

"_That's-That's a double negative, which means–"_

"_I get it!" she interrupts, "Geez! How many grammar police are on this campus?!"_

"_Your friends can't help you either!"_

"_I know!" she yells back._

_Bryton looks at Lynn, who is presented with three large orders of food, "Is that all for you?" he asks, making an attempt at her fries._

_Lynn slaps his hand and nods her head as she begins to bite down on a wing, "Those guys at the bar bet that a shrimp like me couldn't eat chili cheese Monster Fries, nachos, a large order of wings, and all this pop without throwing up, so I'm gonna prove them wrong!" she yells to the guys at the bar, who are looking over at their table._

_Megan, who is also stunned, asks, "How much did they bet you?"_

_Lynn lets out a large burp, and "Twenty bucks each, and they're paying for the food too," she boasts._

"_I can't believe that you agreed to that," Megan says._

"_I can. Haven't you seen her at the dining hall?"_

_Megan nods, "You're right, I don't why I said that." _

_Usually, when the trio goes to the dining hall, Lynn is prone to making multiple trips to get overstuffed trays to satisfy her hunger, but she's still stunned that Lynn plans on eating sixteen wings, two pounds of fries, nachos topped with beans, cheeses, veggies, and jalapeños, and a pitcher of pop for a little one hundred dollars._

_She turns to Bryton, "Can I stay with you tonight?"_

_He nods, knowing the suffering that Megan will endure if she stays in the same room as Lynn._

_The group of guys take a seat near Lynn, and she turns around, "You guys wanted a better seat? You better have your wallets ready!"_

_The guys nod at her first statement, they wanted to make sure that she doesn't cheat, but they also wanted a better view of the game showed on tv. Slowly, the group begins to focus more on the game than on the challenge that they initiated against Lynn. Every once in a while, they look down at their phones; either upset or happy, depending on what happened._

_Lynn turns and hands them the empty tray that once contained her wings, "Just a little more," she boasts. She looks up at the game they are watching, "He's going to miss," she declares between a burp._

"_How do you know?"_

"_He's a freshman, it's a big moment; he's going to freak out," she tells them before turning back to her food._

_The boys look at the screen and as Lynn predicted; the player missed. They assume that she just made a lucky call, but when Lynn continues to predict calls correctly, they realize that they can probably gain some money from her predictions._

_Bryton looks over that group, who are rapidly pressing on their phones, "What are you doing?"_

_The supposed leader of the group secretly shows them an app that they have been using to place bets using Lynn's predictions, "The little high school senior here, has made us a few hundred bucks each."_

_Lynn complains, "I'm not in high school! And what do you mean that I've been making you guys money?"_

"_It's this app - BetKings," he explains, "You can bet on anything; coin tosses, free throws, whether the coach is wearing a toupee. You," he ruffles her hair, "are a little good luck charm. So you got a SendMe account? We owe you some money for helping us out tonight."_

_A crowd roars at the television screen, and the group smiles as they earn more money. Lynn can see the amount that they earned; all from her knowledge of the game stats, "Yeah, just give me a minute to finish this last fry," she says smugly, as she sticks her hand out; wanting the money that they owed her for eating the large amount of food. _

* * *

Francisco waits outside and looks at every car that passes in front of his house. He normally doesn't call on outside help, but after trying over and over again to fix Lynn's car, he decides that getting a professional to look at the vehicle and offer a more permanent solution.

A van pulls up to the driveway and he sees a familiar face step out, "Francisco? Dang, I thought that I'd never see you again. How're you doin?"

Francisco looks at the man, surprised to see Roy after over a year, "I'm doing fine. I was hoping to get someone to look at this car. It keeps stalling every few days, the headlights constantly need to be fixed, the brakes are becoming a problem, and there's probably some more, but I was hoping to get a professional to look at it," he tells him, immediately getting to the point.

Roy nods, and remembers Francisco's direct and distant attitude, "Alrighty, give me a minute and I'll get the tools out and see what we can do for this here car," he proudly taps on the trunk.

Francisco nods and silently waits. Roy returns and begins his quick inspection. Normally, he can use his diagnostic tool to figure everything out quickly, but Roy prefers to see things with his own eyes; he checks under the hood, the inside of the car, the tire pressure, and every basic thing that can cause issues. To Roy, it appears as though the car is a careful balance to ensure that all of the problems don't hit at once when the car is turned one, but he can see why Francisco would be concerned.

"Let me see if I can tighten this," Roy says, he pulls out a tool from his pocket.

The sound of a tool rolling out from under the car grabs the attention of both men and Francisco attempts to pick up the gage that slipped from Roy. The mechanic notices the man's struggle. He quickly finishes the small task to roll out so that he can pick up the gage, but Francisco grabs it and hands it over.

"Thanks," Roy rolls out from under Lynn's car, and wipes the sweat from his brow. In all of his years as a mechanic, he has never seen a car in such bad shape. Normally at this point, people have already gotten rid of such a car, but here he is, stunned that he's being called to work on one.

"So what do you think?" asked Francisco.

The mechanic takes a drink from his water bottle and sighs as he quenched his thirst, "It's a piece of crap. I've seen cars at the junkyard with more life than this here lemon."

Francisco sighs. He knew that Roy was going to say that, but he hoped that the man could have at least worked some sort of magic to make it easier for Lynn to drive around, especially with winter coming up.

"Are ya sure that you wanna fix this old car? You're probably better off getting a new one."

Roy doesn't normally make a habit of telling his customers such things, but it's the truth; the car has spots of rust, the seats need to be reupholstered, the gages aren't even moving, and from if takes in what Francisco said, it's a large list of demands just to make the car more efficient, not including the car's aesthetics.

"I know, but sentimental value and whatnot." Francisco doesn't know the real reason that Lynn refuses to get rid of the car, but any time that he brings it up, she would shut him down; eventually he just learned to not say a thing anymore and just fix it whenever there was a problem.

"I never pictured ole coach Lynn to be attached to a clunker," Roy said as he pulls out a laptop and, what Francisco assumes to be, a diagnostic scan tool to attach to the car.

Francisco stays quiet. He didn't mention who the car's owner was, and it _is_ parked in his driveway after he offered to get it looked at, so it stuns him to know that he could figure out the truth.

Roy notices the look on the other man's face, and spoke up, "I recognized it from the parking lot when the coach was still with my boy's little league team."

Francisco raises an eyebrow, "Did she change teams or something?"

Roy shakes his head, "Nope. Last I heard, she quit or something. Such a shame too, the kids seemed to like her."

Francisco didn't say a thing and wondered when and why Lynn quit a job centered on one of her favorite things. Then he remembered that Lynn did make some complaints about the parents and higher-ups making work more tedious, so he can understand why she would leave, but he's surprised that he never mentioned it to her.

"Can you do me a favor and attach this?" Roy asks as he hands him the diagnostic scan tool.

Francisco nods and places it in the car, before he turned it on, per Roy's instructions. He feels uncomfortable in the sunken seat, and tries to shift around, but he keeps feeling the sponge of the seat scrape against his pants.

Roy shakes his head with a grin on his face; Francisco doesn't need to be seated in the car for him to have run the test, but he can't blame the man for wanting to rest, especially after struggling to reach a tire pressure gage that he dropped on the ground.

"Alright I'm done. You can turn off the car."

Francisco does as he is told, and shifts around in the seat to get to the scanning tool. The cell phone in his pocket is getting in his way, so he takes it out and sets it down so that he could better reach the scanner. He hands the machine to Roy, who hooks it up to his laptop.

The laptop beeps and Roy lets out a whistle, stunned by the extent of the damage.

He looks at Francisco, "You're gonna be wanting to get cozy with the dealerships right about now."

Francisco looks over at the laptop and is stunned by how much is needed to get the car in tiptop shape. He sighs, and wishes that Lynn would just get a new car, but he knows that she won't do such a thing.

"How much?"

Roy can't believe it; Francisco honestly wants to go through with the repairs. Sure, this job would definitely give him a steady flow of money, but he can't ethically bring himself to do such a thing.

"Are you sure? It's gonna set you back way more than you think."

Francisco sighs. This was originally going to be a nice gesture that he planned on to repay Lynn's kindness, or rather her deception; he knows that she has been taking on his financial responsibilities and he refuses to not return the favor, but the cost is much higher than he anticipated. He recently got his job back with Lisa and he knows that he doesn't have a lot of money saved up at the moment, but he isn't going to keep sitting back watching Lynn drive around in the death trap on wheels.

"Just do what you can today to keep it from stalling out and we can talk about the rest some other day; it's a bit of a surprise."

* * *

_Over the last couple of weeks, Lynn has spent her free time at Good Time Charley's gambling on the outcomes of various sports games with other patrons and on the app. At first, she just observed, but eventually got the nerve to try her hand at an actual bet. Now, the patrons begin to take note of her incredible winning streak and want to see the magic for themselves._

_Lynn checks her pockets for some money. She's hungry and hasn't eaten since morning, and while she can get as much food as she wants at the dining hall, there isn't much money to be earned there._

_She walks in, and is immediately greeted by the staff, "Lynn!"_

_With her increasing 'fame', business has been going up as students begin to leech off of her or watch in wonder as she once again predicts a winner._

_The junior takes a seat near the back where she cannot be disturbed and looks at the screens. While she spends her week studying stats, the spread, and various sports reports; she has begun to neglect her schoolwork in favor of the information that has always come more easily. Classes have been getting harder for some time, and Lynn is struggling to keep up with what the teacher says. No matter how hard she tries, the information doesn't stick and sitting in class is becoming her own personal hell with each passing lecture; and that's not including her struggles on the softball team. Now, she spends her time with something that she does understand without wondering the definition of a word._

_Lynn swallows, and looks at the drink menu; she doesn't want to keep drinking pop, but she is craving something sweet, "Kentucky'll be in the lead before half time," she whispers to herself; starting her rituals._

"_You think?" asks a man sitting next to her._

"_Yeah, I do. I haven't been wrong yet," she responds, offended by his lack of faith in her skills._

_The man scoffs, "Whatever you say…"_

_Lynn calls out four more games correctly. This is part of her ritual; no food at least six hours before she starts, no liquids, except for the last game of the night, call five predictions correctly in a row before placing a bet, and only say three bets out loud once she starts wagering money; no more, no less._

_As the night continues, groups of students begin to enter and sit around her, making conversation until Lynn begins to let out one of her three calls on the games. They all knew that she only lets out three, but regardless, it didn't stop them trying to get her to reveal a few more._

"_So how do you do it?" asks a girl sitting nearby, who has taken notice of Lynn._

"_Just luck," she proudly boasts._

_The same man scoffs, "Luck! Yeah, right, you can't be that good without some studying. No one's that lucky."_

_The students begin to defend Lynn, mentioning some of her greater moments, and for a minute, she is reminded of home and her friends. She hasn't talked to a lot of her friends since freshman year, which she attributes to everyone's busy and conflicting schedules, but at least she can still call her family in whenever she wants to talk to somebody._

_As the bar begins to get crowded with more patrons, Lynn begins to feel warm; she's thirsty and is regretting eating the Monster Fries._

_The man next to her asks, "Do you want something to drink?"_

_Lynn shakes her head; she didn't want to leave until later, but she can't hold off on not drinking something anymore._

"_Do you have some water?"_

_He offers her his glass and she quickly downs the beverage, "Why the hell did you eat all those fries without something to drink?"_

"_It's my good luck ritual," she says after finishing the glass._

"_Good luck? What do you need luck for? Are you making bets?" he eyes her._

_Lynn hands him back his glass, and turns towards the game, "Yeah, so what? It's easy."_

_He laughs, "Sure, and I bet that fancy phone game helps you win a lot of funny money too. Come back when you actually play with real money."_

_She scowls. He isn't worth it, but she doesn't want to let him get the last laugh, "You know what? Let's do it! You vs. me on whatever game you want!" _

_He points at a basketball game in progress, "I pick that one. I'll let you pick your team. Now tell me, do you really want to do this? I'll give you one last chance, I'd feel really guilty taking money from a poor little girl," he taunts._

_Lynn gets up and takes a seat in front of him, "Yeah! Let me just check my pockets to see how much cash I got."_

_The man snorts, "Damn kids, no one carries cash anymore."_

"_Says the guy in a college bar," Lynn jokingly snaps. "You know what? I say Colorado wins, and I'm gonna help you download and setup a SendMe account, so you can send me my money whenever you lose against me through electronic magic, grandpa," she taunts._

"_Fine! Lose all your money," he snaps back, confident that she's making foolish wager. "Don't come crying to me when you can't pay me."_

_Lynn scowls and stares at the screen. She doesn't know what just possessed her to take on such an insane challenge, especially since her team was down, but she's going to stick to her guns and say that Colorado is going to win. The two stare at the screen, the members of the audience who are invested in game cheer and boo accordingly. No one seems to be as invested in the game, but the two refuse to take their eyes of the screen; ready to see who is going to win. _

_The buzzer finally goes off with Colorado winning despite the odds being against them. Lynn begins to cheer and do her victory dance, "In your face!"_

"_DAMN IT!" yelled the man._

"_Woo! I won! How do you like that? Huh?" Lynn proudly asks to the man._

* * *

Francisco searched all over the house, and despite his best effort over the last couple of hours, he hasn't been able to find his phone. He turned over his couch cushions, opened every drawer and cabinet, searched under furniture, but it did not appear. He has used his house phone to call it, but when he couldn't hear a thing, and despite the attempt earlier in the day, he tries again, but frustratingly sets the phone down and sighs when he doesn't hear the device.

"Where the hell is it? I just got that phone a couple of weeks ago and I already lost it?!"

After turning his house inside out, he gives in and opens his laptop to search for it. He knows that it's just going to tell him the general location, but he just want to be sure that the phone is still in the house or within his grasp. The location service tracks his phone, and Francisco sees where his phone is currently, "DieselCity Casino and Hotel? What the heck is my phone doing there?"

He writes down the address, and gets in his truck to go retrieve his phone; hoping that it will still be there by the time he arrives.

As he nears the casino, he wonders who has his phone and how it got to a casino, but the familiar sight of Lynn's blue car, put everything into place. He recalls taking his phone out of his pocket when Roy worked on her car, and that he didn't place it back in his pocket when Lynn picked up her car earlier in the day.

He finds a spot near her car, and with strained steps, walks towards Dutch, taking a seat on the trunk of her car, as he waits for her to show up. Francisco tries to get comfortable and keeps an eye his surroundings; hoping that she doesn't take long to exit so that he can get back to his car soon. He shifts around, stands up, but nothing is making his ailing muscles feel better.

"Don't jump to conclusions," he says as he slowly walks around the car.

Francisco isn't sure what to think, but it's easy to get carried when it comes to a building almost dedicated to games of chance. After Roy mentioned that Lynn was no longer a coach, she could have gotten a new job here, but a casino doesn't seem like something that she would be interested in.

A female's voice catches his attention, "Thanks a lot for the escort, Ken."

It's Lynn. Francisco walks closer towards the voice and looks at her and a security guard who is escorting her.

"Yeah, no problem," the guard tell her, "So what are your plans for your winnings?"

"You know what I'm gonna say. Why do you ask?"

Ken laughs, "Because I thought that maybe for once you'd spend your money on something fun, instead of bills. What about a Lions game? You've said that you've wanted to go to see one for a while."

"I know, but I've gotta be an adult and be responsible," she says with a bored tone, "One day, I promise."

Ken steps ahead of Lynn, and attempts to stay between her and the man that is sitting on her car, "Step back, Lynn."

Lynn looks at Francisco and she immediately had a look of guilt on her face. "Its okay, Ken. He's my boyfriend."

Ken keeps looking at Francisco suspiciously. Lynn mentioned a boyfriend before, but he is surprised that he is so serious looking and standing outside in a dimly lit parking lot, instead of going inside with her.

"We've arrived at your car, Ms. Loud," Ken says in a professional tone. He and Lynn have been friendly for a couple of years, so he is more casual with her, but Francisco's presence made him bring out the professionalism from his and her first meeting.

"Thank you," she says, surprised by the sudden change in the atmosphere. "Tell Emma I said hi."

"No problem," Kenneth tells her as he slowly walks away, while occasionally glancing over at the two.

"What are you doing here, Francisco?" asks Lynn, surprised that he came.

"I came because my phone is in your car."

"Why is it in my car?"

"Remember when I told you to leave Dutch, so that I can check under the hood, well, I sort of left my phone and forgot about it."

"Welcome to my world," Lynn opens the driver's side door and searches for his phone, which ended up under the passenger side seat. She hands him his phone, and sees him bite down a bit on his lower lip.

"What is it?"

Francisco looks at her, unaware that he is biting himself, and wondering what she is talking about.

She was hoping to keep this a secret for longer, but she knew that eventually the cat was going to come out of the bag.

"Go ahead and say it. Say that I'm an idiot for gambling or something like that."

He _is_ tempted, but he shakes his head and just says, "I'll see you later."

* * *

_Lynn looks at the rusted blue car in front of her and then at the man, "Are you serious? What the heck am I supposed to do with this?"_

_She can't believe that she wins a bigger sum of cash on a college game, and now she's getting stiffed by someone who thought that she was a lucky fool. The car in front of her reminds her of Vanzilla; both old vehicles that are falling apart and have clearly seen better days._

_He shrugs his shoulders, "I don't know, but I can't take out that much money without my wife knowing that I was gambling again," he says in a hushed tone, looking over his shoulder to see if anyone is looking over at them._

"_And she isn't going to notice a missing car? I think a few hundred dollars is a lot less noticeable than, well, this."_

"_Look, I told my wife I was going to get rid of the car, so now we both be winners. This is the only way I can pay you back, without getting into any trouble, and you get a new car. Do we have a deal?"_

_The junior isn't sure if the car is worth the amount that he owes her, but she has always wanted a car of her own; sharing Vanzilla growing up was a pain, especially when her older sisters didn't all move out until did. Now, this is her opportunity to have a car of her own, and with Lana's help over the upcoming break, it can probably be transformed into an even better car._

"_No strings attached, right? I'm not gonna get pulled over for driving this in a few minutes?"_

_He pulls out the car's title from the glove compartment and hands it to her, "Here, just sign and we call it a day…night, whatever."_

_Lynn complies and extends her hand to shake on the deal, but he ignores her. The man can't give her much and while she would have loved getting the money that she earned, she can at least be happy to have a car of her own._

_He hands her the keys and walks away from her; muttering about the loss just a few minutes ago. Lynn hops inside of her new old car, "I can't wait to show you off," she tells it, as she rubs her hand on the dashboard. "Let me call Bryton and Megan, so I can tell them!"_

_Bryton and Megan each get a text letting them know to meet Lynn at the front of their building for a surprise. They aren't sure what to expect, but from the darkness, they can hear a loud sound approaching them at the bar. They turn to see a blue car slowly make its way towards them. A loud squeaking sound grabs their attention and the two see Lynn in the driver's seat of the car._

"_What do you think?" she excitedly asks her friends._

_Neither one says anything as Lynn presents them the car. They know that she was owed a lot of money, but they can't believe that she would be okay with the clunker in front of her._

"_Well?" Lynn asks._

"_Uhh…" they say in unison._

"_I know it's not much, but I think that me and my sister can fix up old Dutch here and we can make it better."_

_Megan asks, "Dutch?"_

"_Better? Are you sure?" Bryton asks._

_Lynn rolls her eyes, "Yes, I can make it better! And Dutch makes perfect sense – he's blue and silver like the Lions, I won because of the Colorado game, and how do you not know who Dutch Clark is?" Both friends just stare at her, "The Flying Dutchman? Old Master? Wow!" she shakes her head; surprised by her friends' lack of football knowledge. "I mean, I could've gone with some more recent names tied to the school like Benny, but I don't think that my sister is going to appreciate that, and then there's Oosterbaan, but same issue. Although I guess I could have gone with Gerald, but I think that we can both hear the jokes now, and Layne–"_

_Megan, with concern in her voice, interrupts, "Lynn, don't you think that you're going to spend a lot of money just to make this car operable?"_

"_It is operable! I drove from Good Time Charley's all the way here with this baby," that doesn't impress them, "And my sister has an in at the scrap yard back home, we can get parts cheap," Lynn confidently tells her._

_Bryton chimes in, "So is that how you plan on fixing the headlights, the windshield and everything else that's wrong with this piece of crap?"_

"_Wow," Lynn says sarcastically, "when are you guys gonna stop praising my car? Hey, it runs; that's all that matters, and look," she opens the rear door, "it's so roomy in here."_

_The two watch as Lynn steps into the rear of the car and is able to lay down on the backseat like a bed. Neither one is impressed, but both decide to drop it considering that Lynn is overjoyed with the new vehicle and because she probably won't care about their concerns either. Rather than ask her a variety of other questions, like where she plans on parking it until winter break, or what she plans on telling her parents; the two just let her happily live in the moment. _

* * *

Lynn lays in her bed and looks at her phone; she hated the way that he found out about her gambling, but she doesn't have a reason to hide it, and he should be thankful that she's so good that she can spare some money to 'help' him when he was out of work.

She smiles and wonders if he actually had any idea that she would use her own money to pay his bills; probably, she assumes that he actually reads his bank statements and doesn't just ignore them.

"And that's a good enough reason to prove that I'm doing well with my money," she say out loud, tapping her lucky quarter. She pulls out the coin, "Why are you a 2004 coin?" She uses her phone and looks up the order of the state quarter releases, "What the hell kind of order is this? Why is Delaware first and why did Hawaii get released so late? You'd think that it would be one of the early ones! Wait…"she racks her brain and realizes, "Oh! It's the state order! Wait, so Michigan is…" she begins to count the list of the states on her phone's screen, "Twenty-sixth! Dang, took long enough." She presses on a link that shows her state fun facts, "Hey, I didn't know that Arkansas has a park to dig for diamonds! I oughta tell Lola…wait, you have to dig for them. I'll tell the Lana too, Lola gets a diamond and Lana gets to dig in the dirt for fun."

She continues to look through a variety of state facts, "Snake Alley? What the heck is that?" Lynn reads the information and learns that it's just a crooked street, "Well…take that San Francisco! Francisco!" she remembers.

She looks through the whole list and remembers that she needs to talk to Francisco. She looks at his name and begins to go over what she wants to say.

"I'm sorry I didn't tell you…no, too cliché. Sorry, that I told Lisa about what was going on and that I was the reason that you were without work for a few weeks…maybe?" She groans; nothing sounds right.

She isn't the biggest fan of talking about this part of her life, but sometimes, she needs a little financial help. At first, she didn't mind going to her family, after all, you should always be able to count of your family in your time of need, however, that only works for a short time, and before you know it, you get the nasty reputation of being a mooch. Luckily, Lynn is the best at games, whether they be athletic or tabletop, which comes in real handy when you face a casino and all their bright and flashy games.

Lynn dials his number; she figures that she might as well get this over with. She knows that he's disappointed in her, but she figures that she can make it better if she just explains herself.

"Hello?"

"Look," she starts, "I know that you aren't too thrilled about me gambling, but I can explain."

Francisco didn't say a thing. He knows that Lynn is as lucky as a leprechaun wearing a coat of seven-leafed clovers and a necklace made of horseshoes when it came to games, but he also knows that luck doesn't last forever. His fear with her is that she will lose eventually, and in an effort to recoup her losses, she'd keep playing until there is nothing left to give.

He didn't notice that Lynn is still talking on the other line, and he interrupts her, "It's fine…do what you want…"

Hearing that makes Lynn's veins turn ice cold; the way he said that, makes her feel like he doesn't care, or that he's giving up. She knows that what she is doing isn't ideal, especially since she was hiding it, but it bothers her to hear him as quiet as he is on the matter.

"I'm sorry…" she apologizes.

He sighs, "Lynn, I don't care if you play. I just don't want you to go into a frenzy when things don't turn out well. Remember, how you used to tell me about these incidents growing up? I know that you're older and I'm sure you have some control, but forgive me for wanting to look out for you."

He knows that she's not the type to let things go, or quit easily without a fight, but gambling is a different beast, and he didn't want her to get caught up trying to right a mistake that doesn't need to be made in the first place.

Lynn scoffs, "I've got a system to keep that from happening."

Francisco doesn't believe her. There is no such thing as system that she could employ that would cause her to always be lucky every time that she played a casino game, and he doubts that she wouldn't have already taken advantage of her so-called lucky streak before.

"Sure, Lynn. Whatever you say," he says with a tired voice.

"I'm serious! Look, I'll come over and I can explain to you everything over dinner, my treat," she offers.

He smiles and decides to let her explain her reasoning, "Fine, but if we go out, I'm driving."


	22. Boxes and the Move

The door burst open and the sound of vomiting echoes through the bathroom. It's barely seven in the morning, and regret for what happened last night begins to creep in as a bubbling stomach alerts to another opportunity to heave came forth.

"That's the last time I eat Indian fast food."

Lynn bursts through the door, "Dang it," she says before rushing to the hallway bathroom.

Francisco hears her, and could feel his own stomach churning from the sounds. He feels his heart pounding and he tries to ignore the sounds coming from Lynn. He was apprehensive about eating at the fast food Indian establishment last night, but Lynn convinced him, she said that she has eaten there before without any issues, and now there they are both hugging a toilet.

He tries to get up off the floor, and takes a deep breath to be sure that he isn't going to throw up anymore. His stomach continues bubbling, but he eventually gets to his feet and walks over to the other bathroom to check on Lynn, who is currently retching into the toilet.

"I told you that that restaurant was a bad idea," he says as she throws up again.

She looks up from the floor, "And I told you that it's been fine before. So stop bringing it up!"

He keeps quiet and complies with her request, "Can I ask you something? Do you happen to have any empty cardboard boxes that you don't need?"

She nods, "Yeah, a bunch, why?"

Francisco carefully breathes in, "My mom is moving to an apartment, and she needs them for the move."

Lynn is surprised, "Your mom's moving out? Why?"

"I don't–" he immediately rushes to the sink and throws up. He groans, and blows air out of his nose, "I hate throwing up."

Lynn rubs his back, and hands him some toilet paper, "I know. Do you want something for your stomach?"

Francisco shakes his head; he knows that she'll go after the pink bottle again, and he doesn't want to consume the medicine. He tries to clear his nose from his earlier heaving and rinse his nostrils and mouth of the acid.

He starts talking again, "She wants to live somewhere smaller. I mean, can you blame her? A four bedroom house? She doesn't want to take care of or live in such a large place anymore, plus the property taxes are getting too high for her. Besides, Chuy and I agreed that it's much easier for us to take care of it until we rent it out to one of our cousins."

"So it's still in your family?"

"Yeah, Chuy and mom wanted to sell it, but I convinced them that it was better to just keep it and rent it. So at least it's something."

"I guess…" Lynn says, as her eyes stare out in a daze.

Francisco takes a deep breath and when he's sure that his stomach is empty, he heads out to start the day, "So can you let me know if you can find something to help out?"

Lynn snaps her attention back on him, "Alright, I can look around and bring over some boxes to your mom's place. When do you need them?"

* * *

_The two older brothers sneak out of their bedroom. Earlier that evening before dinner, their dad mentioned having to talk to their mom about something important, and the brothers decide to spy on their parents, who are quietly talking amongst themselves. _

"_Me dijo mi primo de un trabajo en una planta en Mi…" __Juan attempts to say the state, but he can't quite remember the name that his cousin told him. __"Me dijo que pagan bien, y que están buscando trabajadores."_

"_¿Y quieres hacerlo?"_

"_Pues, necesitamos más dinero, primero, voy a ir para ver si agarro el trabajo, y después el Gordo me va enseñar una casa y la ciudad. Va ser como una o dos semanas, y si agarro el trabajo nos mudamos allí."_

_The two brothers couldn't believe it; their parents are talking about them moving to another state. They know that money has been tight lately, and with rent going up on the two-bedroom apartment, they know that it'll be a matter of time before they have to move again, but to another state; that's too much._

_The ten- and thirteen-year old quietly sneak back to their room, with the new information in mind._

_As soon as the door closes, in a hushed scream, Kiké declares, "I can't believe they want to leave here!"_

"_Can you blame them? Look around, Kiké. We sleep on a bunk bed and the three of us have to share this one small room," Chuy reminds his brother as he turns off the lights._

_It isn't an ideal rooming situation, but the brothers have no choice but to endure it. Their earliest memories involved the brothers sharing a room with their parents, sleeping in the same bed or sleeping on a couch in a trailer. Luckily, their youngest brother never had to live that part of their lives, but their current situation still isn't a dream._

_Chuy tries to stay calm but moving to whatever state their dad was talking about is still a big deal. The two brothers have spent over a decade bouncing around apartments and different homes that the family could afford, but it was always in the same city; now they are possibly moving far away from everything they have ever known. _

"_Where do you think that dad's going for this job?"the older brother asks._

_Kiké thinks about it, "Mississippi?"_

"_You think?"_

"_I hope not. Are the summers worse down there?"_

"_I don't know. What about Missouri?" Chuy wonders as he begins to get under the covers._

"_Where's that?" Kiké does the same as his brother, "Maybe Minnesota?"_

"_Are those all of the states that dad could have been talking about?"_

"_How should I know? You're the older brother."_

"_But you learned the states more recently," Chuy tells his brother._

"_Doesn't mean a thing," the younger brother proudly says._

_Chuy scoffs, "And you wonder why I help you with your homework."_

_Kiké looks down at his brother, "Not good enough if I can't remember all of the states," he jokes. _

* * *

Lynn digs through her closet trying to find any sort of boxes to help Francisco out, but all she keeps coming across are some of her old sporting goods, "Hockey stick, soccer cleats, swimming goggles, where the heck are those dang boxes?" she asks herself.

She keeps looking through her closet, but stops as she tries to recall why she owned so much equipment that she hardly uses anymore. Her eyes wander towards a set of hunting rifles and she quickly turns away from them, in hopes of searching for those computer boxes.

"Dang it Bryton, when was the last time you sent me a computer?" she asks her old friend out loud.

For the last couple of years, Lynn has been a product tester for her friend's computer/software company. To her, it didn't make sense to send a computer from Washington all the way to Michigan just to get it tested, but he insisted on doing so. Unfortunately for her, this also means that she ends up with more computers than necessary, especially since she wasn't getting paid in anything, but a new desktop, or laptop, or tablet, but at least she always had something to give away as a gift or for parts.

"Finally!" she exclaims as she pulls out a large box, which had a bunch of broken down smaller boxes inside of them.

"They can probably use these for the move," she stops to think about the move.

Lynn shakes her head. She doesn't know why it's bothering her so much that his mom is moving away from his house. She figures that it may have to do with her own attachment to her home, and while she hasn't lived in her childhood home since leaving college, she can't imagine the house not being around.

"I guess it's part of growing up," she sighs.

She grabs the boxes and sets them down by the floor, but her mind keeps going back to the house on Franklin Ave. Her whole childhood was spent in that house, some of her things are still in that house, and so many happy memories are tied to that house and that neighborhood.

"Why am I thinking like that? Mom and dad would never sell it…would they?"

The reasons that Francisco gave made sense, after all, there's no point in having such a large home, when there aren't enough occupants, and mom and dad could want to save some money and apartments are good for people getting to retirement age.

Lynn shudders as she thinks of her parents as retired.

She begins to "Overnight guests…memories…hard to sell…Lisa's home lab…" she begins to laugh. There's her reason to never worry – Lisa never moved out because she doesn't want to move her entire lab and finding a new neighborhood that would be okay with her experiments and occasional visits from various government organizations would be a nightmare for the younger woman. The thought begin to ease Lynn and keep her back on track.

"I guess, I can always count on Lisa never moving out," she jokes. Lynn looks at the time on her phone, "Crap! I'm late!" she yells before grabbing the boxes and heading out the door.

* * *

_The boys look around the apartment one last time. In a few hours, the family is going to pack their belongings onto the truck and they are heading out to Michigan. From what their dad said, the family will be moving to a house with four bedrooms, they'll live close to a beach, and be around some family members who have already settled in the area. The two oldest could tell that their mom, who like them, isn't completely thrilled about the move, but they all understand that they have to move._

_Francisco, who is dragging along his teddy bear, asks his brothers, "Are we going now?"_

_Chuy shakes his head. Their dad has been taking care of some last minute business and if he heard his mother right, they won't be leaving until later that evening. He didn't understand why they couldn't just wait to leave until the next morning, but there is no point in saying anything._

_Francisco heads to his room to go play, and Chuy joins his mom and brother, who are watching tv until it is time to go._

_Hours later, the sound of the front door opening surprises everyone, and Juan inside with some neighbors, "Bueno, ¡vamos a cargar todo en la camioneta!" he says._

"_¿En serio? ¿A las cinco de la tarde?" __Alicia asks, clearly bothered by how much time her husband took to handle the last minute errands, how long it'll take them to load the moving truck and how they are going to depart so late in the afternoon._

_Juan doesn't say a thing, and just starts moving some boxes._

_The commotion of people walking in and out grabs Francisco's attention, and he moves out of the way as men begin to take the packed boxes._

"_Pancho," Alicia calls to her son, "empaca los juguetes con los que estabas jugando, ya mero nos vamos a ir."_

_Francisco walks around the apartment looking for a grocery bag to put his action figures and toy cars. He heads back to his room and places his bear on the bunk bed before grabbing the toys on floor and heading to the family truck._

_The neighbors begin to load some of the heavy furniture onto the truck, and soon the apartment is looking empty. This is it; the final moments before they have to get in the car and head to their new home._

_Alicia turns to her sons, "¿Tienen sus bolsas para entretenerse?"_

_She doesn't want to hear her sons complain about being bored and made them each pack a bag to keep them occupied on the long drive._

_The boys nod and grab them before heading out to the truck to meet their mom._

_Juan pays the helpful neighbors and locks the door of the apartment. The boys look out at the apartment complex one last time as they get into the truck. Francisco tries to look over the dashboard from the backseat; the sun is beginning to set as they embark on their trip to their new home._

_The boys look out the window to take in the sights, but all they could think about was what they are going to expect once they get to Michigan. Their dad didn't tell them too much, aside from what the house looked like, his new job, and how they were going to be close to his cousins and their families, but they don't know what to expect for their personal lives._

_Hours later, Juan pulls into a motel, where the bright lights begin to wake the two older boys up. They hear their mom telling them that they are going to rent a room for the night and to grab their travel bags, so as to not leave them in sight._

_Chuy grabs his four-year-old brother and carries him over his shoulder, "Kiké, grab mine and Pancho's bag."_

_The middle brother groans, "¿Donde estamos?" he asks his parents._

"_En Las Vegas," Juan tells his son, as they walk to their room._

_Kiké's eyes light up at the thought of being in Las Vegas, "¿Podemos ir a un casino o un show de magia?"_

"_No, tenemos que llegar a nuestra nueva casa y todavía nos queda tres días más de viaje," Juan told his son._

_Alicia and the boys mentally groan at the thought of being in the car for three more days of travel. Normally, the family was used to, for the most part, having their space, but being cramped in an extended truck cab is hell, especially since they only stop because Juan wants to, not anyone else._

_Juan grabs some clothes out of his bag, "Deja me baño primero, para que nos puédanos ir a dormir. Nos tenemos que despertar a temprano para llegar a Colorado."_

_Francisco, who is still struggling to keep his eyes open, asks, "Are we home?"_

"_No, you idiot," Kiké complains, "didn't you hear dad? We only traveled for about four hours. There's still three more days of this."_

_The youngest brother groans and closes his eyes from exhaustion._

_Juan exits the bathroom and after everyone has had a chance to get cleaned up, the family gets ready to go to bed. The boys lay under the covers of the large bed, as their parents set up a blanket and some pillows on the ground. Juan turns off the light and tells everyone to get plenty of sleep, as he plans to everyone getting up early in the morning, so that they can get on the road._

_Francisco squirms under the sheets, and asks out loud, "¿__Mami__, donde esta mi osito?"_

"_No sé, Pancho, a la mejor está en una caja. No mas duérmete y lo buscamos cuando lleguemos a la nueva casa," Alicia reassures her youngest son._

_Chuy ruffles his baby brother's hair, "Don't worry, you can handle a few nights without your bear."_

* * *

Kiké's cab pulls in front of his childhood home, he hasn't been inside of the house in years, and now he gets a call from his mom asking him to come to help her move; he was tempted to not bother coming to help, but he was sick of his brothers constantly asking if he is going to help.

He knocks on the front door and is greeted by his older brother, "Oh good, you're here."

"You wouldn't stop calling," Kiké nags as he walks inside. The house has changed a lot since he last walked in, but he isn't surprised; his mom was constantly trying to make changes to the house's décor when he was around, so he doesn't put it past her to move forwards with the plan now.

"I got the truck outside, and mom, Elena, and Francisco are getting all of the small things ready to put in boxes," Chuy informs him.

Kiké walks towards to his mom's room, "So let's get started, I wanna get the hell out of here as soon as possible."

Chuy follows him, "Well, I was hoping to get the bed and the frame ready first and get all of the large furniture–"

"Large furniture, got it," the middle brother says as he tries see how he and Chuy are going to move it.

Chuy rolls his eyes, "Are you still mad?"

"I'm not mad," he states, "I just want to get the job done and leave. Besides, I know that you only want me around because Pancho can't help you for shit."

It isn't the reason that the brothers called him, but the older brother isn't going to bother correcting him, especially when he isn't going to listen.

The brothers get the mattress off of the wooden frame. Kiké couldn't believe that his mom still had it, but after trying to lift it up, he can understand why she did; it was originally built to replace the metal frames that squeaked at night, unfortunately, they are heavy and take two people to move.

Francisco walks into the hallway and soon hears his older brother, "Get out of the way, mocoso!" Kiké yells at Francisco, as he and Chuy try to get their mom's bed frame onto the truck.

"You don't have to yell at Pancho, he doesn't have anywhere to go," Chuy said in his youngest brother's defense.

Kiké groans and set the bed frame down, and tries to catch his breath, "Yeah, well he's getting in the way again. I swear it's like the first time we moved in here, he can't help with the big stuff and he blocks us when we need to move."

Francisco glares at Kiké, "I was four. What did you want me to do, move the couch all by myself?"

"You could have been more helpful than just sitting in your room and playing with your toys."

Francisco shrugs his shoulders; he didn't remember the move too well. Unlike his older brothers, who were eleven and thirteen when they moved to Royal Woods, he was only four years old. They had memories of their lives back in California which Francisco didn't share; all he could remember was the ride over.

"I'm going to go look for Elena, so that we can finish getting the smaller stuff ready to pack up," Francisco says.

Francisco walks up to his daughter and mother, who are talking as his mom shares memories with his daughter. While he doesn't mind his mom doing so, he wants to finish moving things out of the house early, so that they can get her set up in her new apartment.

Elena, who notices her dad, asks, "How come there aren't a lot of photos of you and your brothers growing up?"

"We didn't have a camera, so we relied on family members to take photos of us," he says as he picks up a roll of ruined film, "and if they couldn't come, then oh, well."

"That's sad, so there aren't any photos of you when you were a little boy?" Elena turns to Alicia, "¿No hay fotos de mi papá cuando era un niño pequeño?"

Alicia leads her to three professional portraits, "Aquí estan los retratos de tu papá y tus tíos cuando eran bebés. Ellos eran tan lindos."

* * *

_Kiké stares out the window and sees nothing but trees. While he knew that the trip across the country wasn't going to be a grand adventure, he hoped that they could stop every once in a while and see the sights. So far, their trip has consisted of sitting in the truck and looking out the window. _

_It's their second full day in the car and the family is beginning to grow more agitated in the cramped conditions. Their days are mostly spent in silence, except for some sparse conversations and radio music that their dad plays when they approach a large city._

_The middle brother sees a billboard for a restaurant and turns to his older brother, "What's a runza?"_

_Chuy shrugs his shoulders, "Where'd you see that?"_

"_On a billboard we just passed," he turns to his parents, "¿Podemos parar para comer? __Tengo hambre."_

_Juan shakes his head, "No, ya nos paramos hace unas horas, y ahí tienen ustedes para comer."_

_The foods that their dad is referring to are multiple bags of chips, some soda and water bottles, and cookies; hardly a worthwhile meal. The family still has another day of travel before they reach their destination, and while the boys don't mind eating fast food for three meals a day; they miss their mom's home cooking._

_Kiké pulls out a chip bag and quietly bites down on his snack while staring out the window again, "¿Donde vamos a parar?" he asks his dad._

"_Creo que se llamaba Des Moynez," Juan says while mispronouncing the name of the Iowan city. __"Hoy no mas va hacer como diez horas, y paramos para dormir," he tells the family._

"_Then, ¿podemos hacer algo en un lugar para no estar sentados en el hotel, aburridos?" __Kiké asked. He is hoping that they can finally do something instead of sitting around in a room, especially today._

_Juan sighs, "Ay Kiké, ¿a quién conoces en esa ciudad y adonde iríamos de todos modos?"_

_The boy sighs, "Forget it," he tells his dad. For as long as the brothers could remember, their dad would never be the type to venture anywhere new unless work or family was involved. Over and over again, the family would tell their dad about going to nearby sights in California, and each time, they were shot down because they didn't know anyone in the area, or because he didn't know what they would do for fun. _

_Francisco rests his head on Kiké's arm, and the middle brother shoves him away. The youngest brother, who is snapped awake, attempts to scratch his older brother back. Kiké pulls away and punches Francisco in the arm. Chuy wraps his arm around Kiké's neck and holds him down while, unfortunately squishing the youngest brother._

_The boys are yelling and screaming at one another until Alicia turns around towards her feuding sons and begins to slap each one until they stop fighting, "YA! CA-LLEN-SEN!"_

_Juan looks at his sons, who are clearly upset, "No tenías que golpearlos," he tells his wife in an effort to calm her and their sons down. _

"_¿Pues quieres que todavía estén peleando?" she asks him. __She's stressed and exhausted, and having her sons fight in the car isn't going to solve anything, so she nipped it in the bud before the fighting got worse. Everyone can hear Francisco, who is still crying, "¡Pancho, ya para de llorar!" she tells her son._

* * *

Francisco pulls out his phone. Lynn said that she was searching for boxes, but she hasn't gotten back with him after over an hour. Most of the large furniture is already packed away in the moving truck, which his brothers are going to take to the new apartment, but the boxes are still necessary to help with the smaller items that were going in his truck.

**Are you almost here with the boxes?**

**I'm on my way!** She responds.

Francisco keeps an eye on his brothers, hoping that they would go with the large furniture before she got here. He didn't want to make this day even more stressful than it already is, but today was not the day for Kiké and Lynn to get together.

The familiar blue rusted car begins to pass by the house and pulls up in front of the house, "I'm here!" she happily declares to Francisco and Elena.

He walks as fast as he can to her, "Great, I'll just take the boxes and you can go on your merry way," he tells her in hopes of getting her to leave as soon as possible.

"What? Why? I don't mind helping and I'm sure your family would love an extra–"Lynn notices Kiké and immediately complains, "Oh God! You're still alive!"

He scowls, "And you're still shorter than a fucking garden gnome," he spits back. "As if my day can't get any worse," he complains.

Francisco and Chuy got between the two, who are taking heavy steps towards one another.

Chuy speaks up in an effort to reduce the tension, "Hey Lynn, it's nice to see you after so long."

"It's nice to see you too, Chuy," she responds with kindness. Lynn turns to Kiké, and sticks her tongue out before going back to Dutch to get the boxes that she promised Francisco.

Chuy points his brother to get away from the area without saying a word, which Kiké does, but not before offering Lynn his middle finger.

"Go," Chuy pushes his brother away. He sighs, "I can't believe it. Nearly twenty years and they're still going at it."

Elena walks up to her uncle after seeing what transpired between the two, "What's going with them, tío Chuy?"

He can't remember why the two have started fighting, and he's sure that the two of them don't remember either; they just seem happy to insult the other just for fun when the opportunity arises.

"I don't know. I just know that your dad and I try to keep them apart whenever possible," Chuy explains. He notices that she isn't surprised by Lynn's appearance and he asks her, "You know Lynn?"

She turns towards said woman, "Yeah, she was my coach, before dad started dating her."

"What?!" he asks, surprised that the two have finally started dating. "Took them long enough."

Elena, surprised by her tio's response, "Wait, you didn't know?"

Chuy scoffs, "Has your dad ever been the type to talk openly about his life?"

The girl silently agrees. He isn't wrong, but she assumed that her dad would have casually mentioned the news to his brother, especially when he seems to have been waiting for the couple to date.

Francisco follows Lynn, and casually says, "Thanks a lot for bringing these boxes."

"No problem," she turns back to where Kiké was standing, "but why didn't you tell them that _he _was going to be here?"

"I wasn't entirely sure that he was going to make it, plus I was hoping that he would be gone before you got here," he whispers to her. "Besides, once the large furniture is packed into the truck, then he's going with Chuy to my mom's new place," he assures her.

Lynn sighs. While she isn't happy that _he _is going to be around, but if all it takes is loading furniture onto a truck to get rid of him, then she is more than happy to help speed the process along.

She closes the trunk of her car, "So how much

"Mira esto," the couple hear, "Pancho, ¿porque no nos dices que tu y Lynn volvieron a estar en contacto?" Alicia asks, as she gives Lynn a little smile.

"Nadien pregunto, ¿cómo quieres que te dige?" he responds.

It isn't the best reason, especially since at some point she and his brother have asked if anything new has occurred in his life, but he didn't want to make a big deal about his new relationship.

"Hiciste lo mismo con todas de tus otras novias, pensé que sería diferente con Lynn," she remarks, as she takes some of the boxes from her son's arms.

His mom is right, as a teen, Francisco didn't make a habit out of telling anyone about his love life; at first because his brothers and possibly his mom would tease him, and later, he did it out of habit.

Francisco shrugs his shoulders.

Alicia walks back into the house, and Lynn asks, "What was that about?"

"I didn't tell her or Chuy about us and now they're just teasing."

"You didn't tell them?! How the heck have you not told them yet? It's been nearly two years," she tells him, surprised by the new information.

"They didn't ask," he says, as he walks away from her to help pack up the smaller items.

"That's not a good enough reason!"

* * *

_The family steps out of the car and look at the house in front of them. It isn't anything extravagant, but unlike their old home, the family will have lots of space with each son having a room of his own, a yard that they can play on, and a piece of land that they can one day call their own. There are still some cosmetic fixes that can be done to make the home better, but the family can make due until the problems can be remedied._

_Kiké whistles as he looks around the neighborhood, "Where's the beach that dad promised us?"_

_Chuy shrugs his shoulders, "I don't know, I guess, we missed it, or maybe it's a little further away."_

"_Or it doesn't exist…" Kiké snickers._

_Their dad has made them some lavish promises before in the past, and while they should know better, it doesn't stop the boys from occasionally believing him when he made such promises._

_Juan opens the front door and calls out to his sons, "Bueno, vayan y escogen un cuarto."_

_The excited boys quickly run into the empty house, and look for a room to call their own. The two older brothers, happy that they will have a space to themselves, immediately call the larger rooms as the youngest struggles to keep up the pace._

"_No fair!" Francisco complains, "You're gonna pick and give me the littlest room."_

"_You're the smallest," Kiké reasons, "it's fair. Besides, if you really want it so bad, then beat us to it," he laughs._

_Francisco runs as fast as he can, but his older brothers quickly leave him the dust while looking inside of the bedrooms before deciding on which one they want for themselves._

_As he predicted, Francisco did end up with the smallest room, but his mom assures him that the room is all for him, and that he doesn't have to share with his brothers, "Y te ayudo a decorar, pero tenemos que bajar todas las cajas de la camioneta," she tells him._

_The boy pouts. He isn't worried about what the room is going to look like, he just didn't want to have the smallest room because he was the youngest._

_Alicia calls on the other boys to start helping bring in as much as they can off of the truck; the sun is about to set, and she doesn't feel comfortable leaving the family's belongings on a truck in an unknown neighborhood. Juan assured her the small town is safe and has little crime, but she isn't going to take that chance just because her husband said that there is no risk._

_She walks inside and turns on the lights. She's relived that the house at least has power for them to be comfortable, especially after she had to nag her husband to call the utility companies before they arrived in the city. _

"_Where's the tv?" Francisco asks, hoping to find some cartoons._

_Alicia looks down, "¿Qué?"_

"_La tele," the boy repeats himself in Spanish._

_She leads him outside, and points at the truck, where Juan and the older boys are beginning to unload, "Ve y ayuda, y a la mejor la encontramos," she points to her son._

_Francisco runs up to the truck, and tries to lift up a box, but it's too heavy. He keeps trying with other boxes, each one just as heavy as the others, until his dad and brothers tell him to get out of the way so that he doesn't get hurt. Rather than annoy them anymore, Francisco heads to the family truck and grabs his toy bag so that he can peacefully play in his room._

_While in his room, the young boy can hear his exasperated family argue about how there isn't a clear path to move things through the house, the mess that his brothers are making, and how the living room is getting filled with boxes._

_The eleven-year-old, who passes by his little brother's room, asks his parents"¿Por qué no puede ayudar, Pancho?"_

_The four-year-old turns around, "Because I'm too little to help."_

"_Too little, my ass," he complains._

"_¡Mami, Kiké dijo mala palabra!" __Francisco tattles._

_The older brother stomps into his little brother's room, and Francisco quickly throws a toy car at his head, before running after Francisco. The younger brother screams as Kiké takes a hold of his brother and begins twisting his arm._

_Alicia walks in and grabs Kiké by the arm and drags him out of the room. Francisco can hear his mom punishing his brother and he happily returns to playing with his toys._

_With all the boxes off of the truck, the family rests. Alicia and the boys begin to hear Juan begin to snore. _

_Francisco shakes his dad, and he snaps awake, "¿Quieres dormir en tu cama?"_

_He yawns loudly again, which startles the boy, "Ahorita…cuando termino de armarla…pero después falta armar las camas de los niños, y después pueden dormir en sus propios cuartos. __Pero lo hacemos mañana," Juan loudly yawns as he assures the boys._

_The boys didn't want to wait until tomorrow to sleep in their own beds, and the middle brother quickly let his dad know, "¿__Por qué no puedes empezar ahorita__?"_

"_Mijo, estoy cansado y tengo hambre," he tells him. __He calls out to his wife, "Alicia, ¿me puedes hacer una torta?"_

_Alicia scoffs, "¿Con que comida?"_

_Juan neglected to remember that there is no food in the house, and after moving everything inside, he's too exhausted to go out and get a burger._

_He pulls out his wallet, and hands her some money and tells her that there is a burger place a few blocks away. Alicia, sure that she's going to get lost one way or another, recruits her sons to accompany her to the fast food restaurant._

_The boys groan. They didn't want to leave and they wanted real food, but neither parent is going to budge; when their dad gets hungry, he can get annoying quickly, and mom hates grocery shopping at night._

"_¡Vamos!" she tells her sons, who are dragging their feet towards the truck._

_After finishing their food and washing up for the night, the family sets down some blankets to sleep on the floor. None of them are tired, but with the boys' rooms filled with unopened boxes, Juan suggests that everyone sleep in the master bedroom until the beds are up for the boys; unfortunately they all have to sleep at the same time._

_As soon as the lights turn off, everyone begins to hear Juan snore; despite having so many days to get accustomed to the loud noise, the boys sigh as they suffer for more night of torture._

"_He's like a bear," Kiké jokes to his brothers._

_After hearing that, Francisco suddenly remembers his teddy bear and asks his mom, "Mami, ¿donde está mis osito?"_

_Alicia says, "No sé, Pancho. ¿Lo pusiste en una caja?"_

_Francisco doesn't remember doing so, "No…"_

"_Pues, a la mejor se quedo en California," she says. _

* * *

With the furniture loaded onto the moving truck, Alicia turns to her sons and lets them know to grab anything that is being left behind for themselves.

Elena, curious about her dad's boyhood room, goes in search of it before the room gets emptied. She places her hand on the doorknob, and is immediately turned away from the door.

"Nope," Francisco says, as he leads her towards his bedroom, "that's your uncle's room."

Lynn, who is following behind him, asks, "What's so bad that you had to stop her from going in?"

"Kiké's room," he responds.

He mentally recalls that his brother has some items that he doesn't want his daughter to see, "C'mon, it's this way," he leads the two.

Lynn looks inside. The last time that she stepped foot in his room there were posters, sports equipment, and handmade furniture that kept other miscellaneous items organized; now the room, looks more bare as it is mostly furnished with the same handmade furniture has begun to wear away.

"Hey, look! Now you have a bed for that spare room of yours," Lynn suggests. Then a thought appeared, "Hey, now that I think about, why did you bother getting a large house with a spare room?"

Kiké, who is passing by with a box, responds, "Because mom and dad always kicked him out of his room whenever we had guests, so he was stuck sleeping on the couch."

"That's because I kept my room the cleanest," Francisco says. "Chuy was messy and who knows what people would find if they searched anywhere in your room."

The older brother chuckles, "You still haven't figured out the trick," he laughs, leaving his brother alone.

Elena turns to her, "I think he meant that they were doing it on purpose."

Francisco sighs, "Yeah, I got that."

After Francisco moved into his new house, he took most of his things, but he still left behind some items in his closet. He opened the door and sees that some of his old clothes have gone missing, "I guess mom has been giving away my old clothes again."

"She does that?" Elena asks.

Francisco nods, "She likes to donate or give them away to family that she visits in Mexico." He spots an old box, and smiles, "Look at this," he says, grabbing onto the old box. "I think that this is full of your baby things, Elena."

The girl looks inside the box and finds a plastic-wrapped white dress, a photo album, and a rosary.

"It's from your baptism," he recalls. "I remember your abuela went all over town trying to find the most beautiful dress she could for the ceremony. I knew that she wouldn't have gotten rid of this."

Francisco hands Elena the box, and she asks, "Can I keep it?"

"Sure," he tells her, "I'm sure your abuela won't mind, just go put it in my truck, so we don't forget it."

As she walks away, Elena looks through the photos of her family. She doesn't have a lot of mementos from when her parents were together, so she is happy to see photos of how happy they were on the day of the baptism.

Francisco slowly steps down and looks underneath his bed, "I'm surprised that my mom didn't throw any of this stuff out," he says as he pulls out an old shoebox.

"Why do you say that?"

"She and my dad always used to throw out everything that either got in their way or wasn't useful anymore; it made it really hard to keep anything unless we had a good reason for it."

He opens the box and immediately gets hit with nostalgia. He takes out a bobble head that he won from Gus' Games and Grub, the ball from his last high school baseball game, his baseball cards, toy cars, a pack of old bubblegum, and underneath everything, he spots an envelope.

He immediately closes the lid to keep Lynn from seeing the envelope. He hasn't thought about that secret admirer letter since he was a teenager, and now he

Lynn notices how quickly he closed the box, and playfully asks, "What are you hiding?"

"Nothing, just some silly stuff from when I was a kid," he pulls out the old pack of gum and the toy cars and shows them to her, "See."

She takes the gum and cars from him, "Then I can see what else you have in your little memory box?" she asks, as she slowly steps towards him.

He steps back with each step that she takes forward, until he bumps into the wall, "Are you really that desperate to see my Paws the Tiger bobble head?" he asks as he takes out the mascot.

Lynn makes attempt at his secret treasure box, "I'm more desperate to see what you're trying to hide in your little shoebox. I mean, I get it. You've had the box for years under your bed, probably forgot about some of things that you hid away from your parents. When did you start your little secret box? Ten? Maybe younger, because of the toy cars, but if you have an old bobblehead from," she looks at the figure which came out when they were about fifteen or sixteen, "2018, then you've probably been putting some other stuff in there," she implies.

Rather than continue to hear her accusations, he pulls out the envelope, "It's a secret admirer letter I got when I was a kid."

Lynn stops and she stares at the familiar sight which she hasn't seen since she was thirteen.

"I guess I should have gotten rid of it years ago, but I was sort of hoping that I would get another one to find out who it was from. Oh well," he says, as he walks away and tosses the envelope in the trash.

"Dad! Everyone is about to leave," the two hear Elena say.

"I'm coming," he tells her back.

As Francisco walks away with the box, Lynn walks towards the trash can and looks at the aged letter that he threw into the trash. She picks it up and smiles; she couldn't believe that he still had it after all these years.

"Well, he definitely opened it up and read it…I guess I should've sent that second letter."

She isn't sure if she even has the second letter that she wrote, but to know that he unknowingly held onto her letter makes her feel warm inside.

Francisco calls her, "Lynn, are you coming?"

She quickly stuffs the letter into her pocket and heads towards him, "Yeah, I'm coming."

* * *

**Another chapter down! **

**Thank you to my loyal readers for your support**

**So we got a slightly better glance at Francisco's family life, a few stepping stones to little arcs down the line, and a few callbacks to some of the earliest chapters, so I say that this chapter went well. Hopefully, I can keep the momentum going for the upcoming chapters.**

**(By the way, don't neglect to tell me if I forget to finish sentences, I tend to jump around when writing chapters and can forget to finish a sentence)**


	23. October Nights and Little Bites

Lucy pulls out three invitations from her bag and hands them to her sisters, "The wedding is in less than month. Let me know if you now if you plan inviting anyone."

Lisa looks at the date on the invitation, "Rather short notice for a wedding, don't you think seventh-eldest sister?"

Without thinking, Lynn and Lily quickly ask, "Are you pregnant?"

Lucy and Lisa are not amused.

"Really?" asks Lucy, "That's the first thing that both of you think of?"

"What?" Lily shrugs her shoulders, "You've been engaged since forever, and now that you finally pick a date, it's in less than a month. I'm just saying, it's a little suspicious," she teases.

"Well I say about time," Lynn says with a cheeky smile, "I thought that you and Rocky were never going to get hitched. Doomed forever to be in eternal engagement," Lynn adds.

For years, the soon-to-be newlyweds have been putting off their wedding; first, it was due to school, then she launched her writing career, he tried to continue onto medical school, then they wanted to be financially set, then a nice house, and now they have run out of excuses.

Lily, feigning hurt, asks, "You didn't want us butting in, did you? Is that why we're getting the invitations as late as we are?"

Lisa, not concerned about the date of the wedding, asks, "May I ask if a certain someone is seeing someone romantically?"

Before Lucy could respond, Lily starts, "Does it matter? You know how he says yes, and then at the last minute he shows up without a date and we're stuck hearing about his boastful dating life,"

The him in question was Rusty. All the single female Louds know that the unfortunate one that doesn't show up with a date runs the risk of having Rusty's attention all night long. The sisters made a pact to divide the unwanted attention evenly amongst all of them, but the pool of single sisters that can participate has been getting smaller as the years pass.

"So who can we count on to be a part of our pact for this family event?" Lisa asks Lily.

Lily sighs, "Well Luna's a wild card, and Lana and Lola haven't mentioned anyone recently, but you know them; they'll find a way around it."

Lisa mentally notes the sisters that could handle this task. With only four non-committed sisters available to handle the unfortunate task of bearing the groom's brother romantic interests, the sisters ensure that they show up with someone regardless.

"And you better not bring that barnyard scientist friend of yours to get yourself out of the running," Lily tells her sister, who is getting a knowing look in her eyes. "Are you serious Lisa?!"

Lisa shrugs her shoulders at the idea, though she isn't sure if she is actually going to go through with it, "What can I say? His research in biotechnology is fascinating, and if it means enduring the smell of animal waste, it's worth it."

Lily turns toward Lynn, "And _you_ just had to get a boyfriend."

"Quit exaggerating, you act like it's the end of the world. Besides, Francisco's isn't guaranteed to show up," Lynn mentions as she looks at the date on the invitation. "It's a Saturday, and I doubt that he's pumped to bring his ten-year-old to a wedding taking place 'as the sun sets'? Seriously, Lucy?"

The sister in question shrugs her shoulders, "I wanted a dark betrothal."

"So how the heck do we know what time to arrive?"

Lisa takes out her phone, "Might I suggest an internet search or at least arriving early to ensure your presence for the ceremony."

Lynn rolls her eyes, "I guess…but yeah, I'm not sure if Francisco if going to want to come or bring Elena with him too."

"The invitation is extended to them as well. Just let me know in advance so that I can let dad and my wedding planner know," Lucy mentions.

Lynn flatly asks, "Gee, I wonder who your maid of honor is gonna be?"

* * *

_In the cafeteria, Lynn looks around for her friends. Halloween is just around the corner and with the preparations being made, Lynn wants to invite her friends to see the haunted house that she and her family are setting up._

_She takes a seat next to Margo and Francisco, "Hey guys," she greets her friends before taking a big bite of her meatball sandwich. With her mouth full, she asks her friends a question, but neither one can figure out what she's saying._

"_Lynn, we can't understand you," Francisco complains. "Finish eating, then talk to us."_

_She swallows the bite of food, "I said. What are you guys doing for Halloween?" she asks again, before taking another bite of her sandwich._

_Margo and Francisco look at each other, and while they don't say a thing, they both know what the other is thinking – nothing, they are doing nothing for Halloween._

_Margo, knowing that Lynn is probably inviting them out for the night, asks, "What do you have in mind?"_

"_This," Lynn says, as she takes out her phone and shows the group a photo of a hockey mask-wearing menace wielding a giant chainsaw. "What do you think?"_

"_Aren't we a little old to be trick-or-treating?" asks Francisco._

_Lynn scoffs, "I didn't mean trick-or-treating, I meant this," she shows the two a different photo, "A haunted corn maze. My family and I did it last year and we're doing a haunted house if you guys are interested. I mean, we don't have everything set outside yet, but I can tell you that we're gonnna have monsters, and blood, and spooky decorations – you know, the whole shebang! Let me show you some other pictures that we have."_

_Francisco looks at the photos that Lynn is showing him and Margo. Each picture is filled with either a different sibling each in a scary costume, bloody decorations, or piles of candy. If you asked either one, the Louds definitely know how to celebrate Halloween properly._

"_So what do you say? Do you guys want to come over and celebrate?" Lynn asks._

"_It does look fun," Margo says, "sure, I'll see you there."_

_The girls both turn to Francisco, "What about you?" Lynn asks, "Ready to experience the best Halloween of your life?"_

_Francisco lightly chuckles, "Sure, why not? Take a few years off of my life," he says, noticing the scared look on Lynn's dad's face._

_Lynn laughs, and pats their backs, "That's what I love to hear!" she happily exclaims, before taking out her packed lunch._

"_Seriously? You're still hungry?" the two ask Lynn, who is taking a bite of another sandwich._

* * *

Francisco looks at the wedding invitation, "October 28th? I'm surprised that Lucy didn't want to wait until the 31st."

Lynn takes a seat next to him, "She wanted to, but we all convinced her that a Tuesday wedding would be stupid." He looks at her in the eye, "Alright, she knew that we would object before we even told her…" He continues to stare, "Okay! She planned it herself. Heck, we didn't even know that she and Rocky were getting married until a few days ago."

He smiles after getting the truth from her, "Well, have fun at the wedding," he tells her, before turning the tv on to watch the Red Wings game.

She grabs the remote from him, and mutes the game, "Are you serious? Don't you want to go? It says here, plus one and I have it circled," she says putting the invitation in his face for him to see.

"I don't know. I don't exactly want to use one of my only days with Elena going to–" Francisco stops talking as he notices Lynn's eyes drift towards the screen.

He turns to see her face better and notices her eyes following the puck. He leans in closer to get her attention and suddenly she screams in delight as the Red Wings score a point over the Predators.

"Wooo!" she screams, before turning back to a surprised Francisco, "How about you go for a few hours? C'mon it's got to be better than sitting around here bored on Saturday night. Plus Elena's invited, I'm sure she'd love to see a gothic wedding."

Francisco looks at her, confused, "What makes you think that? She's never shown an interest in the occult or any of that spooky stuff."

"How do you know? Besides, Lily said something about her wanting to know about Lucy's fortune telling and c'mon! How many kids can say that they've seen a vampire get married?"

"No one! Lucy's not a vampire no matter how convincing she can be on Halloween," Francisco says, as he recalls the first Halloween that Lynn invited him to their haunted house; he still shudders if he thinks about it for too long.

"Fine! But just for a few hours," she asks, as she pulls out her famous puppy dog eyes.

Francisco tries to look away towards the game, but she manages to snag him in her trap, "Fine, but I'm not making any promises when it comes to Elena, if I can't convince her to go or Caroline to watch her, then I can't go."

"Deal," she says before pulling him in for a kiss.

He returns the gesture, before feeling her take the remote and turn the game back on. He pulls away from her, and asks, "Seriously?"

"Do you want to miss the game?" she asks before he pulls her back into the kiss.

He gently pushes her onto the couch, and ignores the game in favor of the woman under him, who was wrapping her arms around him. He breaks the kiss and begins to brush his lips against the curve of her neck.

"Don't you dare," she quickly tells him, as she feels his teeth lightly graze her skin.

He chuckles, but ignores her request.

Lynn's phone begins to ring, "Are you gonna answer that?" asks Francisco.

She shakes her head; whoever is calling can wait.

The phone continues to ring, and after six calls, Lynn groans. She has no choice, but to answer to get the nuisance off their backs. She looks at the caller ID, and snaps at her sister, "This better be good Lily," she complains as she gets up from the couch.

"Am I interrupting anything?"

"No," Lynn responds, despite the clear frustration in her voice.

"If it's a hassle I can just call back."

"Just tell me what you want already!"

Lily is quiet for a second, "You don't have to yell. Look, I was wondering if you could call one of Francisco's brothers and see if they would be interested in going to the wedding."

Surprised by the request, Lynn immediately says, "What? No! I'm not going to ask them that! What the heck makes you think that I would even go along with that stupid idea?!"

Francisco gets up to get a bottle of pop, knowing that Lynn is getting too frustrated to continue what they were starting.

"Why not?"

"Lily, no matter what you think Rusty will do, it can't be so bad that you'd be desperate enough to ask a man twenty years older than you to be your date!"

Lily is stunned; she forgets sometimes how much older Lynn and Francisco are, but to know that his brothers are that much older than him, well that's just more shocking.

She shakes her head, "It doesn't matter, I mean, c'mon! You and everyone else always used to complain about Rusty and his attempts to woo and I've heard enough stories to know that I don't want to risk it."

"No! I don't care. Find someone else!"

"You're being so unfair!"

"I don't care. Lily, unless this conversation is going anywhere, I'm not interested in talking right now," Lynn says through her teeth.

The sound of the buzzer from the tv let Lily know that her older sister was watching a game, and is too busy to hear from her. "Fine, I'll leave you alone. Enjoy your game."

Lynn takes a deep breath, and looks at the screen in hopes of getting her younger sister's stupid idea out of her mind. She can't believe that her sister would suggest such a thing, but she hopes that Lily doesn't make an attempt at going through with her outlandish idea.

"So what was that about?"

"Nothing!" Lynn snaps.

Francisco doesn't say a thing after that; he figures that she will talk when she is ready.

As soon as the commercials came on, "I just can't believe that she is that desperate that she'd want to take Chuy to the wedding than to deal with Rusty! I mean seriously! What the hell? She's capable of getting a date with someone her age, but here she is wanting to get together with a man old enough to be her father. It just feels wrong."

Francisco lets her continue her rant. He knows that sometimes it's easier to let Lynn cool down before trying to change her mind, and based on what he overheard, he knows that Lynn is probably jumping the gun on this wedding date.

He places an arm around her, and she rests her head on his shoulder, "Relax, you already said no, how else would she be able to get a hold of him?"

* * *

_Francisco looks at the front door of the house. From what Lynn told him, the family has a different theme each year, and from the look of the shadow hiding what he assumes to be a cardboard castle, Francisco guesses that the family is going with haunted Dracula castle._

_He pulls out his phone, and looks at the time; he's a little early, but he figures that ten minutes isn't going to cause any harm. He rings on the doorbell, which sends a small shock through his arm._

_Lynn, who is dressed in all black, opens the door, "Hey! You're early."_

_Francisco, who was still grasping his arm, "Cool effect with the doorbell." She raises an eyebrow, unaware of what he is talking about, "So what are you supposed to be?"_

_Donning a mask, a tricorn hat, a long flowing cape, and a pair of fake guns on her side, she says, "I forgot what Lucy called it, I'm just going to go with an old-timey renegade."_

"_It looks cool," he compliments._

_She smiles and looks at him, "So where's your costume?" she asks, surprised that he showed up in his normal street clothes._

"_Oh, I didn't think that you wanted us to dress up, so I didn't," he slowly admits. _

_At home, Halloween wasn't a big deal, so he wasn't accustomed to wearing any sort of costume, and despite seeing the photos of Lynn and her family dressed up for the celebration, he never put two and two together to actually make an effort in getting a costume._

"_Seriously!?" Lynn lightly kicks the floor, before the light bulb goes off in her head, "I can probably find you something in the attic," she pulls his arm, "C'mon let's see if you fit into any of our hand-me-downs."_

_Surprised, Francisco tries to stop her, "Wait, what about Margo?"_

_Lynn continues to pull on his arm, "She said that she was running a little late, and will meet us in a bit."_

_Francisco takes his arm from her, "Lynn, I don't want to dress up. I'm fine. You can have fun without some elaborate costume. I mean, your dad isn't wearing a costume, so it's fine," he tells Lynn, while pointing at her dad._

"_He hates Halloween. C'mon! Please," she asks, as she pulls out her puppy-dog eyes._

_He tries to look away, but he can't, "Fine…I'll wear a cape or a mask or something, just please stop with the eyes._

"_Deal!" she says. "C'mon! I'll find you something upstairs."_

"_What about Margo?"_

_Lynn stops before deciding, "Let me text her and then we can go on ahead. Besides, we aren't even open yet." _

* * *

Francisco parks his truck in the spacious driveway. He is stunned by how secluded and large the venue was for the wedding; a forest in the back, and enough room to have plenty of guests park without it being difficult to maneuver out after the ceremony.

"Nice wedding venue."

"It's Lucy's house," Lynn corrects.

"Wow," Elena says, impressed by the size of the home, "All this from being an author?"

"It probably helps that she's marrying a doctor," she jokes. Lynn knows that at the moment, the lavish home was due to her books, after all, Rocky is still in medical school at the moment.

"It feels weird, being at a wedding ceremony so early in the day," Francisco says, as they walk up to the front door.

Lynn nods and knocks on the door, "She wanted to ceremony to take place 'as the sun sets,' so yeah, I figured that it was easier to just show up early and wait, rather than run late and miss the whole thing."

"I thought that it was to help out," Elena assumes.

"Probably, but Lucy has been planning this day since she was a little kid, so I doubt that she hasn't already hired the best people that she can afford, but it never hurts to lend a helping hand."

Lola, with a terrible vampire accent, greets the visitors, "Welcome to Lucy's castle," she jokes. She clears her throat, "Oh good, fresh eyes! I need someone to tell me if my smoky eye makeup looks good."

The three nod in agreement.

"So did Lucy make you say that greeting?" asks Lynn.

Lola scoffs, "When you take a look at the décor you'll know why, besides the least I can do is play the part."

Lynn can believe it and knowing Lola's love for the dramatic, it's easy to see why the younger sister played around a bit when greeting new guests.

"So does Lucy need help?"

Lola scoffed and pouted, "I wish. Instead, she has her fancy wedding planner who has been here for hours handling everything. Does she not know how long I've been waiting for another wedding to help at?!"

For nearly every wedding ceremony that Lola has been invited to, she has made an effort to play a role in making the big day special; whether it's through picking out the dress, decorations, or planning. However, with Lucy hiring a professional staff, Lola and the rest of the sisters are left to pick up any little task.

"Well there's always next time, Lols," Lynn says in a weak effort to comfort her sister.

"I got to decorate the altar…well, there's always next time. Now if you'll excuse me, I've got to go double-check my makeup. I refuse to be one of those bridesmaids that "

The trio step out into the backyard stare in awe at the décor as the walk down the stone path. There are lanterns, dark colored bouquets, candelabras on every table, and a myriad of candles at the altar; it truly is in Lucy fashion.

"I can't wait to get some lunch," Lynn says.

"I can't believe your dad was willing to make two meals just for a wedding."

"I can't wait to see everything when the ceremony starts," Elena says as the group walks to their table.

"The décor seems a little creepy, but it seems like it'll work out later tonight," Chuy says as he takes a seat next to Francisco.

Lynn, Francisco, and Elena look at him in surprise, wondering what he is doing at the wedding. As far as they were concerned, they were expecting to see Lucy and Rocky's friends and family members, not Francisco's older brother.

"Chuy," Francisco starts, "What the heck are you doing here? You weren't invited."

"Yes I was. Lynn's sister invited me," Chuy says, pointing at a group of Lynn's sisters.

Elena asks, "Which one?"

"The blonde one," he responds, despite not narrowing the field too much.

"The one in the pink?" asks Elena.

"The one in the blue?" asks Francisco.

Realization dawns on Lynn, "Did Lily ask you?!"

"Yeah, she told me that she was looking for a date, and that she figured that since Francisco was coming to the wedding that I would be the good choice and I wouldn't have nobody to talk to," Chuy tells her.

She sighs. She is frustrated that Lily actually went through with this stupid plan of her's, "I'm going to go look for her," she says as she gets up and looks around the backyard for her youngest sister.

"Lynn! I thought that you were waiting for the food?" Francisco asks.

Without saying a thing, Lynn walks towards a caterer, and grabs his tray of hors d'oeuvres as she searches for her youngest sister.

* * *

_Francisco walks through the makeshift castle. The sounds of moans, creaks, and wails follow him with nearly every step; he's thoroughly impressed with the amount of work that the family put into the haunted house._

"_You guys do this every year?"_

_Lynn shakes her head, "Nope, our mom barely gave Lucy permission last year. Honestly, I'm happy; Halloween has never been this fun!" She stops in her tracks, "Be careful…this place is booby trapped," she warns him as they finish ascending the stairs._

_He whispers, "What sort of traps are there?"_

_In a normal voice, "Nothing that Lucy or any of us want to put back because we accidentally trip it. There are light sensors, wires on the walls that activate when you touch them, and monsters hidden behind every room. The only safe one is mine and Lucy's but don't tell anyone."_

_Francisco nods his head and tries to focus on his surroundings. He rarely visits Lynn's home and combined with her warning, he tries to be cautious. He keeps his eyes firmly on the floor to not activate a sensor, but he doesn't notice the pair of eyes staring at him._

_A little girl stares at him, "Be careful…there are monsters everywhere…"_

_He turns around, but doesn't see anyone._

"_Don't worry, you'll be fine."_

"_Okay…"_

_He doesn't know why he feels like he's being stared at, but he figures that he's just paranoid._

_Luan, who is harnessed, slowly descends from the shadows and lightly bites Francisco in the neck. He jumps from the shock, and Luan laughs as she disappears into the shadows, "I guess another one bites the dust. Get it?" she laughs until she starts coughing, "I can't stop coughing!" _

_Lynn yells at the ceiling, "Not funny, Luan!" but all she hears is a menacing laughter. She turns to Francisco, "Sorry about that. What's wrong with you?" she asks him._

_Francisco, who is currently on the ground with his knees to his chest, shakes his head, "Nothing, but can we wait here for a bit." _

* * *

Lynn walks up to her youngest sister, "Can I talk to you, alone?"

Lily complies and follows her sister. She sees Chuy sitting next to Francisco and Elena and she knows what Lynn wants to talk about. While Lynn made is clear that she wasn't going to help her ask Francisco's brother to accompany her to the wedding, it didn't stop the young Loud from finding him and asking him herself.

The two sisters, hidden away from the other guests, stop at bench in Lucy's backyard garden. Lynn turns to her sister and asks, "What the hell is wrong with you? I tell you not to ask an older man to bring you here and you still go and do it behind my back."

Annoyed, Lily responds, "Excuse me? I'm not your daughter, you can't tell me what to do. And what exactly is so bad about me inviting Chuy to the wedding; he has people to talk to, he's approachable and we know that he's not some weirdo who'll rob Lucy and Rocky blind."

"That's not the point! I said no and you still went and asked him anyway!"

"Because, I didn't want to deal with him," Lily explains, as she points to Rusty, who is flirting with a bored bridesmaid. "None of us like dealing with a single Rusty, so excuse me for striking up a conversation with Francisco's brother and then paying him to come."

"You paid him?"

"Well I wanted to be sure that he'd think about it!" Lily crosses her arms, "I'm an adult, I don't need your permission, and I can invite whoever I want because there's nothing you can do about it."

Lynn watches Lily walk away. She doesn't like not being able to do anything, but there isn't anything that she can do; she can't kick out Chuy, and her siblings will look at her like a madwoman despite her best efforts. She sighs, and decides go back to her table to sit down.

The three family members see Lynn approaching with a scowl on her face and are tempted to ask what happened.

"I take it you didn't find Lily or you couldn't convince her of whatever it is you're trying to convince her of," Chuy said.

She glares at him, "No, I couldn't. She _insists_ that I can't tell her what to do, but she won't listen to what I wanted to say."

"Well she is an adult," Chuy mentions, "and based on the conversation that we had, I can't imagine that she enjoys being told what to do by her older sisters who still see her as an immature child."

"You know what, Chuy, stay out of this…and when the heck did you two talk?!" she snaps.

"On the way over, and the day she asked me to be her plus one," he says innocently.

Noticing the tension in the air, Francisco asks, "Hey Lynn, you've been here before, can you help me find the bathroom?"

The angry glare in her eyes is slightly defused as she looks at him confused, "Why do you need my help?"

As Francisco gets up, he shrugs his shoulders, "I don't want to waste a lot of time searching and it seems rude to ask Lucy when she's busy."

Lynn sighs, "Fine, let's go."

The couple quietly walks into the house and Lynn leads him to the bathroom, "There it is," she tells him and begins to walk away.

He places his hand on her shoulder, "Wait…this isn't why I asked you to come inside. What's going on with you? You're acting weird, now I get that Lily asking Chuy to be her date was strange, but she _is_ twenty, and–"

"She's nineteen, and it still doesn't mean that it's okay!" she interrupts.

"That's still an adult, whether you like it or not! Lynn, you can't tell her what to do, she's going to do stupid things at that age, we've all done it."

"And that's what I'm trying to tell her!"

Francisco stares at her, "It's just a date for a wedding, and chances are nothing is going to come from it."

Lynn folds her arms and glares at him, "I know that Chuy is a nice guy, but I don't want Lily to start this sort of thing. You know what, forget it. I'm going back to hunt down another caterer."

"Is the sort of thing, something you want to talk about?"

Lynn stops in her tracks. She doesn't want to talk about this with him, not now, but rather than leaving him in the dark, she says, "Look…I did some things that I regretted and I don't want the same thing to happen to my baby sister."

Francisco stops and wonders what happened to her. His mind begins to imagine a variety of different things that could derive from a small 'date' with someone significantly older, but he isn't sure what Lynn actually had in mind or endured.

"Lynn, you know that Chuy isn't going to–"

"I know that! But one nice guy doesn't mean that they all are! Even if it is some stupid play date," she says with tears threatening to spill from her eyes.

He hears footsteps approaching, and he pulls her into the closest door that he could open. Her breathing quickens and Francisco holds her close.

"What are we doing in the closet?" she asks, as he has her wrapped around his arms.

He whispers, "I thought that I heard someone coming, so I thought that I save you the trouble of explaining it to them, especially since we both know that you don't like showing these sorts of things to others. Look, you don't have to tell me anything that you don't want to; heck, you can even just stand her and cry–"

Lynn scoffs as she wipes her eyes, "I'm not crying. I just got dust in my eyes."

Francisco kisses the top of her head, "Alright then."

* * *

_Lynn waits as Francisco stays seated in the corner. For the last few minutes, she has been staring at him, but all he keeps doing is looking down on the floor with his legs drawn up to his torso, muttering to himself. She isn't sure what he's doing, and she is getting tired to just sitting around waiting for him to get up._

"_Francisco, do you plan on just sitting there all night?"_

_He shushes her, and goes back to muttering._

_She didn't appreciate him ignoring her, and then something finally dawned on her; was he scared?_

_She walks up to him and places a hand on his back, "C'mon, you're not scared are you?"_

_He looks up at her confused, "What? No, I'm not scared. I just wanted to take a break."_

_Lynn doesn't believe him. They've been waiting long enough and she is ready to continue to get his makeshift costume._

"_Well I guess you can catch up to me, you know, when you're not scared," Lynn says, before she gets up and tries to walk away. When Francisco doesn't move, "Are you serious!? What the heck!? We've been sitting here forever!"_

"_No we haven't, you just can't wait more than three minutes," Francisco says, "Look, you can go on ahead and I'll catch up."_

_She sits down next to him, "Fine, we can wait; besides, Margo hasn't texted me that she's coming, so I guess we still have some time."_

_Francisco nods, "Okay, then." _

_Lynn places her legs against the wall, and looks up at the ceiling, bored as she pretends to throw a ball into the air. She turns over to Francisco and he's still sitting his eyes closed. Lynn begins to hum and she notices that she grabbed his attention. With a sly smile, she speaks up, "Sorry, but I can't just sit around."_

"_I know. It's like torture for you isn't it?" _

_She nods. She's sick of sitting around, and no matter how little time has passed; she can't help but feel like it's been an eternity._

"_You're the one who said we can wait, so what's wrong?" he asks._

"_That's what I should be asking you, Mr. Too-Scared-to-Even-Walk."_

_He rolls his eyes, "Well, excuse me, Miss Too-Impatient-to-Wait-More-Than-A-Minute, but some of us like to be considerate."_

_Lynn scoffs, "Yeah, right! I'm the one who suggested waiting for Margo, not you."_

_He looks over at her, "Well, then don't complain if we're waiting longer because of you."_

_She looks back at him, with a small smile on her face, "Fine. But we're going in the next two minutes, whether you're ready or not."_

"_Can you actually keep quiet for that amount of time?" he jokingly asks._

* * *

Chuy looks around as guests begin to walk into the backyard. The couple has been gone for some time, "They sure are taking a while," Chuy says out loud. "I mean, I understand that the house is large, but I didn't think that they would be taking so long."

Elena nods in agreement.

"So how's school going so far?" Chuy asks. "Your dad mentioned something about you starting French lessons."

"Oh yeah, I just started," Elena perks up. "Although, I don't think he's happy since I'm still taking piano, ballet, and art lessons."

"I don't see why? He played a lot of sports as a kid, although not all of them at once. Anyway, remind me to tell your uncle to see you when he gets back from Orlando," Chuy laughs.

Like Elena, Kiké has a knack for performing and language hobbies, and because of his travels, it's easy for him to pick up the skill while he runs around the world with his 'interesting' foreign friends doing odd jobs.

Elena is confused, "He's not in Orlando, he's in London."

Chuy raises an eyebrow, "What? How do you know that?"

He isn't sure where Elena got this information from; Kiké rarely calls the family and he is sure that Francisco wouldn't tell his daughter anything about her uncle's 'work' but he isn't sure how else his niece would know where her uncle is.

"Elena, mija, where was the last thing you remember about your tío Kiké?"

Elena tries to recall, "I don't remember much, just Richard Kingsley and people calling it a cat house."

Now, he's a little concerned. Richard Kingsley is the fake name that Kiké likes to use when he's doing shady things, and Chuy knows that his brother would not tell his daughter anything about her uncle's life. However, there was only one other person who knew about that name without ever being told.

"Okay…" Chuy says unsure of what to think. "You know what; maybe you should find a classmate to practice with, you know your uncle, he's never really around." He looks around to see if anyone is approaching the table. "Elena, how do you know about Richard Kingsley?"

Elena nervously bites her bottom lip, "I don't know…I think I heard it once…"

Chuy nods his head and decides to ask, "Can I ask you something? Were you really surprised when you found out about your dad and Lynn?"

Elena isn't sure why he asked that, but tells him, "Yeah, why?"

With a soft expression on his face, he nods, "Just curious, but I promise that this can just be between the two of us."

Elena is confused by her tío, but decides that not ask him anything. She doesn't know how she knew the information that she gave him, she just knows that it happens sometimes and now always with her tío Kiké.

The sit in silence as they watch more and more guests arrive, Elena turns to her uncle, "Alright, now it's my turns to ask you something; is there a reason that you agreed to being Lily's date to this wedding?"

Chuy coughs out his water, "Date? It's not a date," Elena believes the flustered man, "She found me online and we started talking and then she brought up the wedding."

"But you don't know her, why would you agree?"

Chuy looks over at Lily, who is currently taking photos with her oldest sister, he isn't sure why he agreed either. He debated on whether it was because of what Lily said about her sisters and that rusty-haired man or because of the money that she offered him, or because she said that Francisco was going to be attending as well.

"She mentioned that you and your dad were coming, and I figured, why not? I could use a night out."

"I don't think that most men choose a wedding for a night out."

The two notice Francisco and Lynn walking up to the table.

"What took you both so long?" asked Chuy, who notices the wrinkles on Lynn's dress and a smidge of red lipstick on the corner of Francisco's lips.

The two take a seat and Francisco rubs his knee, "My knee was acting up, so we waited until it felt better."

"Yeah, and I needed to reapply some makeup and somehow we took an hour to find Lola to help me out," Lynn complains

The older brother nods, pretending to believe Lynn and Francisco's lie. He turns to Elena, "Hey, can you do me a favor and get me some water?"

Elena nods and walks away, Chuy turns to his younger brother and hands him a napkin, "You're lucky that it's getting dark out and the décor is black," he whispers to the two.

Francisco isn't sure what his brother means until Lynn gestures him to use the black napkin to clean the lipstick mark.

Chuy smiles, and thanks Elena as she returns with a water bottle.

* * *

_The two friends walk into the attic and Lynn retrieves a cape, a wolf mask, and a lantern from a box, "To guide you on your journey this evening," she says in a somber voice._

_In the same voice, he says, "Okay…" as he puts the costume items._

_Lynn's phone rings, "Alright, Margo's here! Let's go meet her downstairs."_

_Francisco follows after her. As the two head down into the second floor hallway, he looks up to make sure that Luan doesn't surprise him again._

"_Don't worry," the jokester says, "I never tell the same joke twice."_

_Lynn turns to him, "Don't believe her. She keeps telling the same joke until she's sure that she's happy with it."_

"_Be careful…there are monsters everywhere…"_

_Francisco points the flashlight on his phone at Luan, "Al-bright, al-bright, I won't bite you in the neck again."_

_He can't believe how much his heart is racing from just walking upstairs to the attic; he will definitely give points to the Louds on producing a quality haunted house._

_Lynn runs up to Margo, who is dressed as a witch, "About time you got here!"_

"_I had to take my cousins trick-or-treating before they went to bed."_

"_You should've brought them here," Lynn suggests. "They would have loved it, right Francisco!"_

_He nods, "Hey Margo."_

"_Hey. Nice costume," she compliments._

_Lynn wraps her arm around his shoulder, "Can you believe that he didn't bring a costume? I mean, who celebrates Halloween like that?"_

"_Teenagers," Francisco responds._

_Lynn scoffs, "Boring ones."_

_Lucy walks up to her sister, "Lynn, Lori wants a picture before we officially open our haunted house."_

_Francisco and Margo stare a Lucy's costume; her Victorian clothes are somewhat torn, her teeth are sharp and her skin is splattered with realistic-looking blood. As Lynn heads towards her family, Lucy turns towards the teenagers and stares intently at them before turning heading in the direction of her family._

"_Did you feel her eyes staring into your soul?" he asks Margo._

_She nods. Margo turns and asks Francisco, "What happened to your neck?"_

_His cheeks turn red as he places his hand on the spot where Luan bit him. He mumbles to himself as he walks away, but Margo can't hear him._

* * *

The sun is about to set and Lisa calls all the guests to take a seat so that the ceremony can commence. The lights turn off around the guests, prompting the young children to cry and the bridesmaids to turn on all, but one of the candles at the altar. The organ music begins to play, lanterns turn on, and while Rocky waits for Luan's daughters run down the aisle tossing black flower petals, so that Lucy can follow after them with her father in arm.

"I'm not ready for my little girl to get married," Lynn Sr. sobs.

All Lucy can do is smile. Despite having walked three daughters down the aisle and seeing four of his children get married, he is always an emotional mess as his children enter another stage in life.

Rita clears her throat and begins. In the past, Pop-Pop was the one who officiated the weddings, however, after he passed, his daughter took over his role.

Lynn stares at her family members; Luna playing music, the twins and bridesmaids smiling next to Lucy, her dad still crying his eyes out, Lily taking photos, Lisa counting down the minutes for the sun to officially set, and Lincoln, Lori, Leni, and Luan with their respective families.

Rita continues to talk while Lynn looks out at the sun to see if Lisa was right about the time and if her mom could finish everything so that the couple could get their sunset kiss. The couple each takes a lit candle from the maid of honor and from the groomsman, and light the last candle left untouched by the bridesmaids.

Lynn's eyes wander towards the candles, and stay fixated until a pair of bats swoops in carrying a ring box. Rita slowly takes the box from the bats and reveals a pair of wedding rings for the bride and groom.

She hands the couple the rings, "Rocky, do you take Lucy, as your lawfully wedded wife?"

"I do."

"And Lucy, do you take Rocky as your lawfully wedding husband?"

"I do."

"Then by the power vested in me, I now pronounce you husband and wife, Rocky, you may kiss the bride."

The sun sets and the couple seal the ordeal with a kiss.

The guests cheer for the newlyweds, as they walk down the aisle together. The younger children play around with the flower pedals, and DJ Lisa heads to her computer to play music for the guests as they enjoy their meals.

Caterers begin handing out meals for the guests and Lynn happily licks her lips, "Alright, I'm starving."

"You just ate a few hours ago," Francisco reminds her.

"So? I can get hungry again."

Everyone begins to laugh, until Lily takes a seat. The two sisters quietly utter pleasantries before focusing on their meals.

"Ladies and gentleman, young humans and various

Francisco gives Lynn his hand, "Do you want to dance?"

She snickers, "Since when do you dance in public?"

"One-time offer, take it or leave it. I'll give you ten seconds to decide," he warns her, as he sets the timer on his watch.

Lynn stares at him, and keeps count of the time. As time runs out, she takes his hand and says, "Sure. I'd love to."

The timer goes off and Chuy and Elena laugh. The two head to the dance floor, and Lynn grabs one last appetizer before the two begin dancing.

"How many years did you say they were engaged?" Francisco asks.

Lynn shrugs her shoulders, "I forgot. I think since they finished undergrad or after she sold her first book. All I know is, after years of dating it's nice to know that they were actually going to go through with it."

"There's couples out there that take it nice and slow, nothing weird about that."

"Yeah, I guess, but to be engaged for so many years. I got the dating, but still," she jokes.

He laughs, "Alright, that's enough. Don't be rude. It's their wedding day."

She playfully rolls her eyes, "Alright."

He notices Chuy and Lily talking at their table, and he pulls Lynn closer to whisper in her ear, "Are you okay?"

She turns to see her younger sister at the table. Lynn takes a deep breath, "Yeah…let's just have a little more fun, some food, and then we can go."

As the night wore on, the celebration began to draw to a close. On their way out, Lynn finds an unguarded tray of bacon-wrapped scallops, "Alright! Snacks for the road!"

"Lynn, put the tray back," Francisco tells her.

"Fine, the tray can stay, but where's my purse?"

* * *

**Look at that! Lucy finally got married, and it only took over twenty chapters since I first mentioned it, that took me long enough. Anyway, the jumps are about to get bigger in the upcoming chapters (I wonder if I should start dating these chapter to help you guys out?), but nothing too dramatic.**

**As always, thank you for the read, and I look forward to the next chapter.**

**To answer Pedroxmv97, while the chapters are usually planned and outlined, sometimes a better idea comes along, and can shift things around a bit. I try not to shift things too much, because it can mess with the what I have planned, however the letter was always meant to be found by Lynn, but Francisco repeating the whole leave something important behind in his room was an add-on due to wanting to have some things that happened in the past happen in the present scenes.**


	24. Image and Sundays

Lynn watches Francisco as he walks on the treadmill. For months, he was making good progress, but lately he's been slowing down. She looks at him and sees the strained look on his face as he takes a step with his right leg. She focuses her eyes on his leg, in hopes of seeing anything that could be the cause of his pain, but she can't see a thing.

She walks over to him and asks, "Are you okay?"

He nods his head, "Yeah, why?"

"Because you've been walking slower than normal."

Francisco turns off the treadmill, "It's not a big deal. My back has just been hurting a little more since the accident."

"Do you want a massage? I could make it better," she offers.

Francisco hesitates to respond. He knows that she more than capable of helping him at the moment, but the relief is usually temporary.

He grabs a cleaning wipe and looks at the indoor pool, "I'd rather just hit the water instead, you know, for my back," he convinces her as he wipes down the treadmill.

"Alright! Race you to the changing room," Lynn challenges him.

He shakes his head, "I just ran on the treadmill. Let my heart rate go back to normal for a bit."

Lynn rolls her eyes, "I'll meet you at the pool," she says before leaving him behind to get changed, "Ran, more like walked," she mutters to herself.

She looks back at him; he is struggling to walk. As soon as he notices her staring, he perks up to keep her from worrying.

"Is your knee okay?"

"Yeah, why?" he feigns innocence.

"Because you're walking like this," she says, as she mimics his strained walking.

Francisco scoffs, "Just a few steps. There's no reason to worry."

"Of course," she says. "So you won't mind if I do this," she warns him as her hand forms a fist.

Noticing what Lynn is about to do, he quickly reminds her of the gym rules, "No roughhousing on the premises outside of the designated boxing area, or you can get kicked out," he tells her pointing at the front desk staff.

"That's not roughhousing."

"I don't make the rules, and you never know what they'll count as roughhousing," he tells her as he walks into the men's locker room.

Francisco takes a seat on the bench and tries to massage his knee, "What the heck is going on?" He tries to recall anything that he might have done to cause the pain, but he can't think of anything, "I hope that is just because of the weather outside," he tells himself.

He gets changed and heads towards the pool where Lynn is about to jump in to start her laps.

Francisco takes a seat on the edge of the pool, "It's nice to cool down."

Lynn swims towards him, "You know that this exercise works better if you get in the pool, right?"

He kicks in her direction to splash her, "There, exercise," he jokes.

She pulls on his shirt and forces him into the pool. She sticks out her tongue at him, "That's better."

Francisco emerges from the water, and glares at her, "Really?"

Lynn shrugs her shoulders, "What? I'm just having fun."

"I'll show you fun," he threatens, as he slaps a wave of water in her direction.

She quickly ducks underwater and swim away, "You're gonna have to move faster than that!"

He sighs and swims after her. The pain in his body isn't as intense as it was when he was out of the water, but he can still feel his aching knee if he moves it too hard.

She stops to look over at him, but as soon as he gets too close, she swims away, "C'mon! Don't tell me that you're slowing down on me!" she taunts

He tries again to catch her, but he ends up overexerting himself and he screams in pain as he holds onto his knee.

Lynn, who hears him, swims towards him, and get his head above the water, "I got you," she tells him, as she helps him towards the edge of the pool.

"I can do it," he tells her in an effort to get himself out of the water.

Lynn gets out of the pool and holds out her hand to help Francisco. She keeps her eyes on his right leg and notices that he is barely moving it.

"Are you okay?" she asks.

He nods his head, "Yeah…I guess I got a cramp."

* * *

_Lynn rests her head on the desk. For the last hour, she has been listening to Cesar go over the information on her study sheet, but she is dozing off; she doesn't know if it's because it's just one last test, because she doesn't want to study anymore, or if she was just looking forward to the month long break from school._

_Cesar snaps his fingers in front of Lynn, "Wake up. If you don't want to study, I understand, but you came here for a reason. So you can either stay and listen, or you can grab your things and go."_

_She gets her head off of the desk, "I'm up, I'm up."_

"_What's wrong with you? Usually, I can get you to study, but now it seems like you've checked out."_

_Last week, at Cesar's suggestion, Lynn checked her grades online, and with his help, she figured out what she needed to make on each test to pass each of her classes._

"_Look," he says, as he takes a seat in front of her, "I know that you don't want to work that hard especially after how hard you've worked all semester, but you don't want to develop any bad habits and settle for just getting by. Don't you want to get that A?"_

_She does, but she's already herself out trying to get passing grades on all of her exams so far._

_He looks at the whiteboard, "Besides wouldn't you love to go home and show your parents that you made the dean's list? I mean, did your sisters manage that in their first semesters?"_

_After spending some time with one another, Cesar has picked up some tricks to get Lynn to be more cooperative when he tutors her, and so far the best one is competition; even if it does solely exist in her mind._

"_Only my oldest sister has gone to college, so it's not exactly a large pool of competitors," she reminds him._

"_Then be the first in your family. Then no one can take it from you," he tells her. "Just think about it."_

_She does. Lori returned from her first semester at Fairway with good grades and it would be nice to be able to do the same, especially with better grades._

"_I guess I can bust my butt for a few more days."_

"_Then you can enjoy the break with mindless television or getting ahead with next semester's classes," he challenges her._

_Lynn rolls her eyes, "Seriously? Is that what you do during your break?"_

"_Well as someone who's made the dean's list every semester he's been enrolled," he begins to brag, "I need to put in the effort to get the grades."_

_She grabs her study guide, "Well you are the smart guy," she mutters under breath._

"_What does that mean?"_

"_You know what it means. It's who you are – the guy who studies for hours on end with nothing else going on."_

"_Lynn, I play piano, I tutor, and I have got a good handle on gardening. People are allowed to enjoy different hobbies, after all, humans are an eclectic mix of interests and everyone has some varying skill in all tasks; you can't tell me that all you can do is sports."_

"_You garden?" she asked, missing the point that he is trying to make._

"_Yes, but that's not the point that I was trying to make," he tells her. "What do you like doing when you just want to relax? Something that isn't a sport or something that you choose to compete in."_

_She stops to think about it. Nearly all of her hobbies involved competition, and if it didn't, she usually didn't maintain much interest._

"_I don't know. Besides, it doesn't matter; I'm the sports girl; that's what I'm mostly known for!"_

"_You're known for being competitive," he corrects. "You told me that you won a state math bowl, you've won a spelling bee once. Granted, the math bowl isn't going to be covered by a major sports network, but spelling bees are, and I can imagine that if someone told you that your GPA in high school was a competition, you might have won that."_

_Lynn raises an eyebrow, "You really think that I could have been valedictorian, who are you kidding? The only reason I didn't almost flunk out of school was because I still needed to have the grades to get in here. And as for the spelling bee, I did fine until I had to start learning crazier words like key-arrows-cure-its or something like that. Besides, if I was on my own, there's no way I'd be doing well in school."_

_He doesn't know what word she's referring to, but he's sad for her; knowing that she only thinks of herself as just a competitor who needs a helping hand in school. He becomes curious and asks her, "Tell me the truth, Lynn. Why do you think that all you're good for is sports and competition? Why do you think that you can't be smart or anything else on your own?"_

* * *

"I could go for a sandwich at Romano's. What do you think?" asks Lynn, as the two walk through the parking lot.

Francisco wants to protest. While he is a fan of the sandwiches made by the Italian family, he isn't so fond of eating such heavy food after a workout. _'Then again, when was the last time I had a sandwich from Romano's?'_

"So? Do you want one? 'Cause I'm going regardless."

"Fine, but I'm warning you now, I'm stopping you at two sandwiches."

Lynn scoffs, "What!? Why?"

He stares at her; every time that she tries to match her previous five sandwich record, she ends up regretting it while complaining about eating so much and frankly, he doesn't want to hear her whine on their way home.

"You know why," he says, "But c'mon, let's go. I'm hungry too."

The two get into his truck and head to the sandwich shop. Francisco pulls into the parking lot, and Lynn runs out of the truck to head to the door, "C'mon! There's only a few seconds left!"

"If they're closed, its fine, we can eat somewhere else," Francisco says after noticing the empty parking lot.

She manages to get inside and begins chatting with Theresa and Laura while signaling Francisco to step inside the establishment. He sighs and gets out of the truck to follow her. The bell rings and alerts the family of the other guest that entered.

Stefano, who is in the back, tells the two, "Sorry, we're closed. You can come back tomorrow."

Laura answers her brother, "It's Lynn and Francisco."

"He knows what time we close."

In a playfully snarky tone, Lynn responds, "So, I guess that means that it's okay for me to stay?"

"Preferably no," he says as he steps out of the back room, "but I already warned your boyfriend once about coming in after hours."

Martino hears the commotion downstairs and sees his most loyal customer and her boyfriend chatting with his children.

"Linda, Francesco, buonasera. Come stai oggi?" asks the older man; Lynn pauses as she tries to think of Martino asked her.

Francisco responds, "I'm fine, a little sore, but nothing I haven't felt before," he says, as he rubs his shoulder.

"You understand Italian?" Lynn asks.

"Spanish and college help me out."

"Raffaelina is upstairs making dinner, would you like to stay?" Martino offers.

Francisco shakes his head. He doesn't want to intrude and wants to get his sandwich before leaving. Lynn, however, is intrigued by the offer and goes into the back room. When she notices that Francisco isn't following her, she pops her head into the dining area, "Aren't you coming?"

"No, I just wanted a sandwich to go, besides I didn't think that I was invited to go upstairs."

She grabs his hand and pulls him to the back room, "C'mon! These guys treat me like family and you're with me."

Lynn drags him upstairs. Francisco hears the siblings closing up the shop, and he's sure that they would be offended if he keeps insisting on leaving.

She sniffs the air, and sneaks up behind Raffaelina, "I smell your famous tomato sauce."

The older woman turns around, and sees Lynn, "And I don't smell flowers or chocolate. Did you forget again?"

"I promise, next time."

Stefano takes a seat at the table, "That's what you said last time."

"And the time before that," Laura adds as she sets the table.

"And the time before that," Theresa says as she helps her sister.

Francisco walks with Martino by his side, "Uh…we should get going, it was nice seeing you guys again, but we shouldn't intrude, right Lynn?"

Martino shakes his head, "Sit, eat, talk."

Theresa pulls Francisco to a seat, "We insist, besides, Lynn isn't leaving especially after smelling food."

He nods in agreement; Lynn is helping Raffaelina plate the family's dinner, and he doubts that she isn't going to want some sort of payment of the food kind.

The food is placed at the table and the women sit down to start dinner. Even after Thanksgiving and Lucy's wedding, he still isn't used to eating family dinners with more just few other people. Francisco sits in silence as he watches everyone converse with one another.

"So how long have you and Lynn been close?" Francisco asks the family.

The family begins to speak all at once, and Francisco can't keep up with who was saying what; he's able to hear a few words, but everything was getting jumbled in his mind.

Martino whistles to stop all the talking, and he begins recounting the story in Italian. Francisco tries his hardest to keep up with that the older man is saying, but some words are still escaping him. He is able to pick up a handful of words, but the only ones that he is sure of are Easter, disaster, sympathy, sermon, and bench; it helps, but it's hardly enough to go off of.

"Then mamma talked to her and invited her to the restaurant to eat and talk. The end," Stefano finishes the story; not giving Francisco much to work with either.

Laura interjected, "Not the end. Lynn still comes every Sunday to see her."

Francisco looks over at Lynn eating away at the bowl of pasta in front of her. _'Every Sunday?'_

Raffaelina leans into Lynn's ear and whispers, which prompted Lynn to stop eating and begin counting with her fingers. The older woman keeps an eye on Lynn as she continues to count and as the family continues to talk and ask questions.

"So, Francisco," starts Laura, "how did you and Lynn meet?"

The family had a vague idea after eavesdropping on Lynn's conversations, but they don't know all of the details; their mother hasn't asked, and all Lynn mentions is that they've known each other since they were kids in a baseball field.

"Well…" Francisco tries to clear his throat. "We were about twelve and met at the park."

The family isn't satisfied, "That's it?!" they all said.

They were all expecting more than that, especially since they are asking him directly, but to hear Francisco summarize his and Lynn's first time meeting into a few words, left them wanting to know more.

"Who knew that we've been told the long version?" complained Stefano.

The sisters and Martino laugh.

Martino began to eat and asked, "Francesco, vuoi del vino?"

The children all scold him, and suddenly it turns from a conversation that Francisco could keep up with to one that he could barely understand a thing that was being said.

Francisco grabs his fork to eat. This is isn't how he imagined his evening going; all he wanted to do was just exercise at the gym and maybe go home and enjoy some crappy television, instead he ends up in a family's dining room eating almost alone as Lynn continues to count and the family keeps talking.

As soon as the pasta touched his mouth, he smiles in delight at the delicious food. He doesn't notice Lynn pointing at him to Raffaelina as he continues to eat.

"Looks like you've got someone else hooked on your recipe," Lynn tells Raffaelina, "Now he's gonna follow me here every chance he can."

Francisco notices everyone staring at him. He didn't realize that he was devouring the food in front of him, "What?"

Lynn turns to Raffaelina, "You better start jarring up that sauce, because someone is going to want to buy it and eat it like him."

Stefano jokingly scoffs, "Like she'll ever sell it."

The family and couple laugh, and enjoy the rest of the meal in peace.

As the couple step out of the restaurant and get into his truck, Francisco turns to Lynn and asks, "So…every Sunday?" He was curious to know why she would go out of her way to visit the family as frequently as she does; he would have understood if it was her own family, but what made these people so special?

"Yeah, why?"

Francisco struggles to find the right words, "Well, it just seems strange that you spend _that_ much time with your local Italian deli owner."

Lynn shrugs her shoulders, "They're nice, _and_ they make a killer sauce. You should know," she teases as she lightly pushed into him.

It _was_ delicious, but it still didn't answer his question.

She could see that he isn't entirely satisfied with the answer, "Look. They helped me out when I needed it, so I like to return the favor, either by spending time with them or buying a crap ton of sandwiches whenever I can."

"How do they help you?"

Lynn stays quiet, "I'll tell you another time."

He is surprised by that answer. Normally, she doesn't have much problem opening up to him, but it makes him curious to find out the reason for her visits.

"You know you can talk to me about what's going on, right," he informs her.

She lightly groans, "Enough already! Jeez! It's just something between us, so why does it matter? Let me keep something to myself. Not like you'd understand," she mutters under her breath.

After her outburst, he decides to turn the conversation to something else, "So…do you have any plans for this Christmas Eve?"

Lynn looks at him. Despite their time dating, neither one made much of an effort to spend time with the other during the holidays.

"Elena is having a piano recital and then afterwards we were planning on spending Christmas Eve with my mom and brother."

"Oh…" she wasn't sure what to say. He's never invited her to any of Elena's activities before, and she isn't sure if she wants to intrude at a time like this. "I don't know…I mean, aren't the holidays more for you guys?"

Francisco raises an eyebrow; surprised by her statement, especially considering that Lynn spent Christmas with them two years ago.

She shakes her, "Umm…maybe not the recital, but I'm not making promises for the other thing either. I mean, I've got my family for Christmas and it's kinda hard to avoid family when you live in the same city."

"Oh…okay then…"

* * *

'_Why do you think that all you're good for is sports and competition? Why do you think that you can't be smart or anything else on your own?'_

_That question has been bouncing in her head for days. In the past, she won a state math bowl, and there was that spelling bee in elementary school, but aside from that her main accomplishments have been in sports._

_Lynn stares down at her textbook. She looks at the first few words of the lengthy paragraph, and without reading it, she shifts her head away from the text and towards her sports almanac, "There's one reason," she says to herself._

_School is hard and has never been her thing, and no matter how hard Lisa tried to help her, it didn't last long._

_She pulls out her sports almanac and reads through the pages; now if high school was about this then she would have been a straight-A student, "Or if it was more hands-on…"she sighs._

_There isn't much she can do, aside from labs, her classes are lecture, which doesn't give her much opportunity to use her hands and learn by doing. Cesar has tried to teach her to use her imagination when she's on her own so that she can picture being the one doing what she was learning, but if it isn't in front of her, it's easy for her to just move onto something more interesting._

_Megan walks in and sees her roommate reading the almanac and ignoring her textbook, "Doing some light reading before the break?"_

_Lynn looks up, "Do you think that I'm good at anything besides sports?"_

_Megan doesn't know how to answer. She barely knows her roommate, but based on the habits that she's noticed over the last couple of months, she knows that Lynn is the type to forego studying in favor of playing some sort of game, she's an act first, think later kind of person, and she's always doing something that keeps her moving._

_She slowly starts, "I think that you're…"_

_Without letting her finish, Lynn sighs, "Yeah, I thought so."_

"_You didn't let me finish, I think that you are an action person and that you push yourself to excel in competition," Megan says in an effort make her roommate feel better._

_Lynn sighs – she already thought of herself in that regard, and she's sure that if she asks other people they'll just say the same thing._

_Rather than continue, Lynn nods, "Thanks."_

"_Why did you ask?"_

"_I don't know…I think 'cause Cesar got in my head."_

"_Well I'm just one person, why don't you ask someone else?"_

_Asking anyone that she knows on campus would probably result in the same answer, but then again, there are her old friends from Royal Woods; they've known her for years, they would probably have a good answer and help her put her worries to rest._

_She pulls out her laptop and finds Margo online, she sends her friend a message and asks her to chat._

_Margo starts a video chat session, "Hey Lynn, how are you doing?"_

"_Not bad. I think I'm about to make the dean's list?"_

_Impressed, but also surprised, Margo congratulates her friend, "Wow, that's great! You didn't call just to brag, did you?" she jokes._

"_Well maybe a little," Lynn says, going along with Margo's joke. "Anyway, can I ask you something, when you think of me, what's the first thing that runs through your mind?"_

"_That you're always on the move. For as long as I've known you, Lynn, you run around or play longer than anyone I've known, but–"_

_The screen cuts off._

"_What the hell?!" Lynn presses the buttons on her laptop, but nothing brings the device back to life._

"_Did you forget to charge it again?" asks Megan, who is well aware of her roommate's forgetfulness when it comes to charging her laptop _

_Lynn gets a text from Margo, asking what happened._

_**I forgot to charge my laptop**_

_**Again? lol  
How do you forget to do that?**_

_**I have a phone that can do nearly the same things as a laptop, forgive me for forgetting  
So how is school going?**_

_The girls text back and forth for about an hour, until Margo has to leave for class._

_Lynn tosses her phone aside and grabs her laptop to charge it._

_Megan asks her roommate, "So what was your friend going to say about you until she got interrupted?"_

_Lynn slaps her forehead, realizing that she forgot to finish asking Margo about what she was going to say, "Well, that's fine. I've got other friends I can ask," she declares before heading out the door._

_She spots Bryton walking back from class, "Hey Bryton, wanna go for a run?"_

_He shakes his head, "Nope. Too cold."_

"_But running can warm you up," she says in hopes of tempting him._

_He shakes his head, "Not unless we're running to my dorm."_

"_Fine, a short run it is. Ready?"_

"_Nope."_

"_Why not?"_

_He points to his building, "It's not going to be much of a dramatic race," he says._

"_Fine! A quick question," she starts as she follows him to his building, "what's the first thing to pop to mind when you think of me?"_

"_Competitive and hungry," he says without a second thought. "I mean, you eat like there's no tomorrow," he jokes._

"_Ha ha," she says sarcastically. "I'm serious."_

"_So am I," he tells her, as he steps into his building._

_She sighs, "Well that was a bust."_

* * *

Elena's heart is pounding, as she nervously twirls her fingers. She is pacing back and forth in the living room; thinking about how this whole recital could go wrong. She's had months of practice, but a Christmas recital where families are recording with cameras and all dressed up nicely to hear classical music is not something that she wants to mess up.

Francisco, who notices his daughter's anxiety, walks into the living room, "You're going to be fine. You've worked hard and practiced for weeks, I know that you can do it," he says, as he pulls her into a hug in an effort to relax her. "Now close your eyes, take a deep breath, and hold it for ten seconds."

The girl does as she is told, and looks up at her dad. "Are you sure that Lynn couldn't come?"

He nods, "She said that she had to help her sisters with something, but she said that if there was time, she would come with us to go to your abuela's."

That is a lie.

The truth is that Lynn is probably spending time with her family and won't have time to visit him and his family. However, Francisco isn't sure what has come over his daughter to suddenly invite Lynn to something that would normally be reserved for him and Caroline, but Elena wants Lynn to be there, and he didn't want to openly question it.

"You just keep breathing, I'm going to go finish getting ready, and then we'll go," he says as he steps outside to the backyard.

Elena glances in the direction of the door, and with a smile she says to herself, "He still hasn't learned how to tie a tie?"

Francisco looks in the direction of Jackson's door, and he calls out to the man. Jackson steps out of his house, "Good afternoon, Francisco."

"Hey Jackson, how are you doing?"

"I'm doing well," he notices the loose tie around Francisco's neck and knows exactly why his neighbor called him. He gestures the younger man to approach him, Jackson grabs hold of the tie, "How many lessons have I given you?"

"About three? Thanksgiving last year, Elena's birthday, and Lucy's wedding a few months ago. I'm trying to remember, but I still can't get the hang of it," Francisco admits, as he keeps his eyes on the older man's technique. "I guess you can say that it's not entirely necessary to learn?"

Jackson shakes his head, "It never hurts to learn a new skill, Francisco. So how is Elena? Is she ready for her recital?"

"No," Francisco says, as he looks at his watch. Jackson finishes, "Thanks by the way. I keep trying to tell her that she's going to be fine, but I know that she just doesn't want to make a fool of herself."

"Well, you can't blame her; it's a public performance, at her age, it's easy to make a mountain out of a mole hill."

Francisco nods his head, "Maybe it's because it's been so long since I've had to do anything in front of a crowd, at least involuntary."

"What was the last thing you did in front of a crowd?"

The younger man tries to remember, "I think it was going up against Lynn on the mound back when Elena played ball, but I chose to do that. I forgot about the crowd, all I did was just look at Lynn, and everything just disappeared."

"Maybe that's something that you should help Elena achieve," Jackson points to the girl, who is pacing again in the living room. Francisco thanks the man for his words and walks inside.

He tries to think of anything that would make her forget her worries, but unless he plans on making a trip to a candy store on the way to the recital, it's not happening.

"There's a museum, but again, can't do that…" he looks at his daughter pacing back and forth and remembers something from when she was very young.

Elena hears her dad walk through the door. She stops pacing and grabs her sheet music, so they can leave.

"Wait," Francisco let's out his hand to Elena, "hold my hands." She does as she's told, and he begins to slowly dance.

Elena lets out a little giggle, "What are you doing?"

"When you were little, this always made you smile, so I'm hoping it still works," he says, despite the girl turning her head away from him. "So how does that piece go, for your recital?"

Elena sighs and begins to hum Twilight Waltz. The two go back and forth, and she almost feels like she's a little girl again, back she when didn't have a care in the world; no worrying about school, performing in front of people, and back when she was dancing with her feet placed on her dad's while they dance in the living room of her abuelita's house.

Her mind drifts to those memories, despite having very few to remember.

The two continue dancing until Elena stops humming. She holds her dad tightly, and whispers a thanks for reminding her of that memory.

"Well that was fun," Francisco tells her.

Elena slowly nods in agreement. Her heart isn't pounding and while she is still nervous, she's much calmer than she was a few minutes ago.

He checks the time on his watch, "We should get going, we don't want to be late," he warns her, as he grabs her coat.

* * *

_She busts through the door of the tutoring room, "Alright! Tell me the truth, what the heck do you see in me that apparently no one else can!"_

_Cesar looks at Lynn, "Excuse me?"_

_She marches up to his face, "You heard me! What do you see in me that no one else can? What makes you think that there's hope for me being nothing more than some sports fanatic that can't sit still for more than a minute?"_

_He didn't expect her to bust through the door and ask such a thing, especially after a week has passed, "You still remember?"_

"_Don't change the subject! Tell me what you think of me?"_

_Cesar is surprised by the way worded her question and tries to think of an answer, "I think that anyone can be what they want–"_

"_Yeah, yeah, save the after school speech," she interrupts, "Look, I've talked to a few of people, my old friends, roommates, and they all think the same thing, that I'm competitive, athletic, and have a monster appetite, so why do you think that I can be something else?"_

_He sighs, "Lynn, I asked, why did you place yourself as just this one person. Do you honestly see yourself as a one-dimensional cartoon character that can't be more well-rounded?"_

_Lynn shudders at the last words, and Cesar looks away from her; she reflects better when she isn't making eye-contact with the person that she wants to confront, "I don't know…I know what I'm good at and I stick with it."_

"_Why are you letting other people say who you are? The question wasn't for them, it was for you. If we meet again as strangers," he asks at the wall, "would you only want to be seen as just an athlete alone or as someone who can be smart or creative or something else too?"_

_Lynn doesn't say a thing. For nearly her whole life, she has defined herself as someone who enjoys sports and has fun; she doesn't consider much else. _

_Cesar turns around, "Let me ask you again, why do you think that all you're good for is sports and competition? Why do you think that you can't be smart or anything else on your own?"_

"_I don't know…I've always played sports, ever since I was a little kid, it was the only way someone else would play without someone saying that I was annoying or getting in their way, plus, it helped that I was good at it."_

_He smiles, "And being smart?"_

_She takes a deep breath and sighs loudly, "I guess, 'cause I always struggled in school. First, my parents helped me, then teachers, my friends, and siblings, and now you…I don't think I can remember a time when someone wasn't helping me to make sure that I stayed on track with my schoolwork."_

_Cesar looks at his backpack, "Well, just because you struggle, doesn't mean that you can't be smart. Look how well you've done, and–"_

"_Yeah," she scoffs, "with your help."_

"_Let me finish," he answers back, "you know something about college? It's a good chance to reinvent yourself, and it's easy when you're in a new place. I'm not saying that you have to different person, but you don't have to live your old life here, I know I don't."_

_Lynn opens her mouth to ask, but he quickly stops her, "Please don't ask. I came to Michigan for school, to get ahead, and to not be who I was back home. Maybe one day I'll say what, but not today."_

_She nods, "Okay, but I'm not gonna change my personality overnight."_

"_I'm not saying that. I just want you to see yourself as someone who is capable in more than just sports, it's okay to see yourself as more than just the competitive athlete; there's more to you than just that one thing."_

"_Fine, I'll try to see myself as more than one thing…so, do you need someone to help you garden?"_

_Cesar smiles, "Sure, the more the merrier."_

* * *

Francisco takes a seat and sees Caroline and Andrew walk through the doors. He is surprised that Andrew is here, when suddenly it clicked; Elena invited Lynn, probably because she already invited Andrew.

He waves at them, and the couple takes a seat next to him.

"Merry Christmas, Francisco," greets Caroline.

"Merry Christmas, Caroline, Andrew."

"Francisco, Merry Christmas."

Caroline asks, "How's she doing?"

"Nervous, I swear if my rear windows were automatic, she probably would have spent the whole ride over numbing her face with cold air."

She looks over at Elena and waves at her, "Poor thing." She turns to Andrew, "Make sure you start recording when she's already seated so that she doesn't think of the camera."

"Elena's going to be fine," Francisco assures Caroline. "She's not the first one up, and chances are somebody is going to mess up and she'll realize that it's okay."

A mother in front of the three adults turns back and glares at Francisco.

"Well it's true. Chances are your kid is nervous too," he tells the stranger.

Andrew snickers.

"Don't laugh, it's rude," Caroline sternly tells Andrew. "Is Lynn around?" she asks Francisco.

He shakes his head, "No, she said that she didn't want to intrude."

Both adults are surprised to hear him say that. From their understanding, he and Lynn have been dating for over two years, and to know that she isn't comfortable being at an event that Elena invited her to is strange.

Caroline asks, "Does she spend much time with Elena?"

Francisco shakes his head, "No, but she was her coach, and it's the holidays, she's going to be busy with her own family."

"And during the rest of the year?"

He sighs, "She spends time with her sisters on Saturdays and with the owners of her favorite sandwich shop on Sundays; her weekends aren't free."

Neither one knows what to say.

Andrew breaks the silence, "So she spends time with strangers, but not Elena? I mean, is there a reason that she chooses to spend her Sundays with them?"

Francisco shrugs his shoulders, "I don't know, she wouldn't tell me."

Caroline holds back a giggle. It's almost hilarious that Lynn is doing to him what he used to do to her; granted, she can understand that Lynn has her own life and wants Francisco to not split his time between her and Elena, but to hear that she goes out of her way to spend time strangers and not tell Francisco why is almost like karma.

"Go ahead, laugh."

"I'm not going to laugh out loud, but I hope you remember this feeling," she looks at Elena, "So, Lynn didn't want to come to this?"

"At some point, I've just stopped asking," he admits.

"You should bring it up. You two have been together for some time, and Elena asked her to come here for her; how does it look when she doesn't do so?"

Francisco stays quiet.

Caroline sighs, and whispers "You lied for her."

"I didn't lie," he whispers, "but I didn't tell Lynn that Elena wanted her here."

"Then tell her next time, because at some point, Elena is going to think that Lynn is avoiding her and doesn't want to get to know her."

Andrew quietly reminds Francisco, "Technically, you omitted facts, so you did lie." Caroline and Francisco stare at him, "Okay, not what you both wanted to hear."

Francisco looks at his watch; he has a few minutes until the recital starts, "Excuse me, I'll be back," he tells Caroline and Andrew, as he gets up from his seat.

He heads into the hallway and pulls out his phone and calls Lynn. He can hear a movie playing in the background before she responds.

"_Hey Francisco, what's up?"_

"Not much. Hey, I know you said that you were going to be with your family tonight, but…my offer still stands if you want to come to my mom's place tonight. We're going to have pozole, play lotería, and open presents. I mean, I know that you already have plans, but it'd really mean a lot to me and Elena if you came."

Lynn doesn't say a thing. She didn't know that Lisa and Lily were going to go with their parents to Chicago to visit Luna, Luan, and her family, and that Lucy would spend Christmas Eve with Rocky and his family again, although Lucy did call to let her know that the two former roommates can make plans to spend Christmas day together, but now she has another chance to join in on Francisco and his family's festivities.

"_You know what, yeah, I can come by. Just send me the time and address."_

"Are you sure? I don't want to take you from your family."

"_They'll be fine. Besides, it's your Christmas tonight and tomorrow is mine. I'll make you come to Lucy's place tomorrow."_

"Alright, I'll see you after the recital, and Lynn, thanks…for you know, coming over."

"_You're welcome, now go and see Elena kill it on stage."_

Francisco hangs up and texts Lynn the address before heading back inside to see the recital about to start. He looks over at Elena and gives her a small smile to wish her luck.

The piano teacher begins, "I want to thank everyone for coming out this evening. I know that the children have worked very hard to make this recital possible, and I ask that you silence your phones. Now, without further ado, here is Arnold playing Pachabel's Canon."

The parents clap. One by one each of the students are presented and begin to play their pieces, as Francisco predicted, there were some students who made mistakes; some didn't take well to it and paused for a moment, and others took it in stride as they continued playing.

When Elena steps up to the bench and she takes a deep breath. Her trepidation from earlier that day is beginning to creep up on her, and she begins to sway back and forth as if she were dancing. Francisco and Andrew take out their cameras to record, and Elena begins to play.

The three adults look at her as she plays; all of them proud of how hard she's worked to do well tonight. Upon completing the piece, Elena gets up from the bench, and the two men stop recording to join Caroline as they clap for her.

When the recital is over, Elena joins the three, and gives her mom a hug, "I'm so happy that it's over."

"Well we're all proud of you, and you did so well," Caroline complimented.

Elena looks up, embarrassed, "Thank you."

"You did great out there," Andrew complimented.

Francisco nods his head, and opens his arms to bring Elena in for a hug.

"Thanks dad," she says.

"For what?"

"For the dance earlier today."

"You're welcome."

Francisco looks at his watch, "I hate to cut this short, but we should get going," he tells Elena. "Your abuela is about to start dinner soon and we want to get in a few rounds of lotería before we open presents."

"Okay," she turns to her mom and giver her one last hug.

Francisco glances and sees the diamond ring on Caroline's left hand. He silently nods, as it becomes clear why Andrew was invited to the recital.

Caroline kisses her daughter's forehead, "Merry Christmas, honey."

Elena smiles, "Merry Christmas, mom."

The girl scurries towards the exit as she waits to walk to the truck with her dad. Francisco stays behind and looks over at the couple in front of him, "Merry Christmas…and congrats on the engagement."


	25. Christmas and Time Together

Francisco opens his truck and the two step in to escape the cold. He looks over to make sure that Elena is buckled in, "You ready to go see your family?"

"Yeah, I can't wait. It's been a long time since I've seen abuelita and I can't wait for dinner."

He chuckles, "I bet, especially since you didn't want to eat before we went to your recital."

She smiles, "I didn't want to risk throwing up."

He understands; he could feel that her stomach was in knots before she got up on stage. Francisco looks at the road and stays quiet as he drives. He taps his fingers on the steering wheel, and opens his mouth to tell her, "Uh, before your recital started, Lynn told me that she would meet us at your abuela's apartment."

"That's great…is she going to be okay with tío Kiké around though? I mean, they didn't get along too well last time, and abuelita's apartment is smaller than the house."

"Kiké's not going to be there," he tells her.

"Yes he is; he was invited."

Francisco has no idea how the girl would know that her uncle would be at her grandmother's home, especially since his mom rarely invites him around.

"Well…we'll see what happens," he tells her.

He pulls into the visitor's parking lot and sees Lynn walking around, waiting for them. He honks his horn and she sees them. She waves her arm to greet them, as he parks his truck in the space.

Francisco and Elena step out and hear Lynn, "Merry Christmas!"

"Merry Christmas," the two say.

Elena speaks up, "I'm glad that you were able to come."

"Me too, it's nice to spend the holidays with others," she says.

"You didn't have any trouble finding the place, did you?"

Lynn shakes her head, "Well, I passed it, but only because the entrance is easy to miss," she says, pointing at the entry way.

Neither father nor daughter can believe that that was the reason she missed the entrance, and Francisco asks, "Were you driving too fast for your GPS again?"

Lynn's cheeks turn red, "No! I think that my phone's internet was just lagging."

"Or you were driving too fast," Francisco responds.

"Whatever! I still got here before you did," Lynn snaps back.

"Alright, let's get out of cold already," Francisco presses the button to call his mom's apartment, "Ya estamos aquí. ¿Puedes abrir la puerta?"

Chuy's voice is heard in the box, "I'm coming. Just give me a minute."

The three wait for Chuy to open the door; Lynn begins to tap her foot, Francisco looks at the walkway, and Elena stares up at the moon.

"Good thing there aren't a lot of visitors tonight, huh," he says, trying to break the silence as they wait for someone to come open the door for them.

The other two nod their heads, and they see Chuy heading towards them. He spots Lynn with his brother and niece, and can feel a headache start as he imagines hearing her and Kiké fighting over the next few hours.

"A quiet holiday is all I wanted, now my brothers messed that up," he whispers to himself. Chuy waves his arms, "¡Feliz Navidad!"

"Feliz Navidad," Francisco and Elena return.

Lynn shakes her head, "Oh, uh, merry Christmas."

Chuy opens the gate, "I wasn't expecting you today, Lynn."

Francisco glares at his older brother, "I called and left mom a message."

"And you expect mom to check those? How many times have we taught her how to video chat?"

The younger brother nods, both of their parents were hopeless at learning technology, especially when they just kept saying that they were too thick-headed to learn anything.

The four approach the front door of Alicia's apartment and can hear muffled voices from the door.

Elena looks up at her tío, "Is abuelita yelling at tío Kiké again?"

"Probably, I still don't know why she invited him this year."

"Maybe she wants to make up with him," Francisco responds.

Elena and Lynn wonder what the brothers are talking about, but don't get a chance to ask when Chuy opens the door to his mother's apartment. The three are amazed by the beautiful decorations that Alicia placed in the small space.

"Wow, I guess she got newer decorations for the holidays," Francisco says.

Kiké responds, "More like she finally put her decorations to good use. Plus it's easier when no one asks why she bothers."

Francisco ignores his brother. He spots his mom and goes to give her a hug, "Feliz Navidad."

She returns the hug and greeting before she whispers in his ear, "¿Porque no me dijiste que ibas a invitarla?"

While Alicia doesn't have anything against Lynn being at their small get-together, she just would have appreciated a heads-up from her son.

Francisco whispers back, "Te dije y también te deje un mensaje en tu teléfono. Nos mi culpa que chequeases tus mensajes."

Alicia shrugs her shoulders and turns to everyone, "Todavía no está el pozole, pero ¿quién quiere jugar lotería?"

The brothers nod their heads, and Elena goes to get the game. She counts the lotería cards, "¿Cómo vamos a jugar de dos cartas cuando tenemos diez cartas?"

Kiké turns to Lynn, "You hear that, you're ruining our Christmas traditions."

"Excuse me?" she growls to Kiké.

"Well it's true, we wouldn't have to worry about how to split ten cards if you weren't here."

Elena noticing that they are about to fight, "I don't mind sharing with anyone or maybe team up with someone, that way we can splits the cards evenly."

The two stay quiet, and Francisco responds for them, "Como tú quieras."

* * *

_Francisco wakes up to a quiet house. It's December 25__th__, and there is nothing for him to do. His family already celebrated and opened presents the night before, so now the family has nothing to do until his birthday or New Year's Eve. This is the boring part of winter break that he hates; his family rarely goes anywhere, except to visit his grandparents, and his friends are all spending time with their families, so no one is free._

_Upon hearing the sound of the snow shovel clearing the walkway, Francisco looks at the time, and while he would rather still lay under his warm blanket, he decides to get out of bed and begins to get changed._

_He steps out of his room heads towards the somewhat decorated kitchen. His mom has always wanted to bring the holidays to life for her sons, but at some point, hearing their dad keep asking why she spent her money on decorations made the boys no longer help put as much effort into any holiday; but she still keeps trying regardless._

_Francisco looks in the fridge and pulls out a large bag of tamales. For the next three weeks, he and his family are going to be eating these once or more times a day until they either get sick of them or run out, usually the latter._

_Francisco looks in the bag and tries to see what type of tamale is in the bag and he takes out three to heat up in the microwave._

_His mom walks into the kitchen, "Feliz Navidad, Pancho," she says as she pulls him into a hug._

"_Feliz Navidad," he says as he returns the hug._

_The microwave dings and Francisco takes out his breakfast. Alicia looks in the fridge, and notices the whole bottom row in the fridge is filled with tamales, normally it isn't a big deal, but lately she has been trying to watch her health and tamales aren't going to help, especially if they are tempting her every day._

"_¿Piensas que tus amigos van a querer tamales?" __Alicia asks her youngest son._

_He looks up from his plate, "Maybe, pienso que si."_

_Alicia pulls out some grocery bags to prepare, "Cuando tengas oportunidad, llévales a tus amigos," she offers. She takes out some bags from the fridge to pack, "¿Cuantos tamales piensas qué van a querer?"_

_Francisco begins to mentally count his friends' family members. He didn't want to go to too many houses, and settled on just taking some tamales to Lynn and Margo, "¿Como cuantas para cada persona?"_

"_Lo que quieras," she tells him._

"_Ocho o diez en una bolsa y veintiséis o cuarenta para la otra," he says; he doesn't feel like traveling around to too many friends' houses, So, he figures it's easier to deliver to two friends instead._

"_¿Cuarenta? ¿Estás loco? ¿Para qué les vas a llevar cincuenta en total?"_

"_Lynn tiene diez hermanos y sus dos padres, pensé darles dos o tres cada uno," he defends himself,; it's not his fault that Lynnhas a large number of siblings. "Cualquier manera tenemos un montón de tamales, ¿porqué no darles?" _

_In a huff, she filled the plastic bags with forty and ten tamales, and left them on the counter for him to deliver._

_Francisco quickly finishes the last two tamales, and heads to his room to grab his coat, gloves, and cap so that he can start his trek around the neighborhood._

_On the way out, Francisco sees his dad at the door with a coffee and pan dulce in his hands._

"_¿A dónde vas?" he asks._

"_Voy a llevarles tamales a mis amigos," Francisco says, lifting up the bags of tamales. _

_Juan nods, and steps out of his son's way, "No tomes tanto tiempo, van a venir mis primos más tarde," Francisco hears his dad tell him._

* * *

"La Rana. La Sirena. La Bota. La Corona. El Soldado. El Borracho," Kíke calls in rapid succession, as the family makes an attempt to mark their lotería cards.

Chuy, fed up with his younger brother's antics, yells, "Would you slow down?! We can't keep up with you."

"Yeah, right," he scoffs. "You all understand me."

Francisco, Elena, Lynn, and Alicia all stare at Kiké; while he is right that they all can understand him, that doesn't mean that they are able to properly play while keeping up with all the new cards that he is calling.

"Dame esas cartas, Enrique," Alicia orders as she takes the called cards and spreads out them onto the table for everyone to see.

The family peers over the drawn cards and begin to mark their spaces; however, they are interrupted when Lynn yells out, "Bingo!"

"¡Buenas!" the family corrects her.

"Whatever," Lynn scoffs as she takes the small pile of coins from the middle of the table.

The family tosses their lotería cards into the middle of the table. For the last hour, the family has been playing, and each time Lynn has won every single game. Everyone would understand her winning streak if it was a game of skill, but it's a game of luck.

Kiké sighs, "You're a fucking trancera!"

"Hey!" Francisco interrupts; mad at the accusation that his brother is tossing at Lynn.

"Oh like Elena doesn't know the word," Kiké claims, missing the point of Francisco's frustration.

Francisco sighs loudly, "I meant, don't call my girlfriend a damn cheater. You've been calling the cards, you shuffle them weirdly, and you call them from random parts of the deck, let it go," he defends Lynn.

"She's won every single damn game, what else do you call that?!"

Chuy tosses another quarter into the middle of the table, "Lucky."

"Fine! You know what," he hands Lynn the deck, "You call them."

Kiké places a quarter in the middle of the table, and collects two new lotería cards to play with. The family members place their bids on the table, and wait as Lynn shuffles the pliable cards.

"I still don't get how two cards are a quarter, but one is a dime. Why don't you just give out a third card, or charge just two dimes?" Lynn questions.

"It's how we've always played," Chuy informs her. "Everyone has quarters in their pockets, and it's not like we have extra cards to play with," he says pointing to the table.

"So put down your damn quarter so we can finally end your winning streak, ¿quieren llenar una carta entera esta vez?" asks Kiké.

The family agrees, and Francisco translates to Lynn that they had to fill all of the spaces to win.

Lynn tosses her quarter into the pile and calls the first card. In a heavily accented Spanish, she slowly says, "La Mu…er…te."

Elena bites down on her lip to hold back a giggle. She doesn't want to be rude, but she can't help finding humor in Lynn's pronunciation; luckily, she's not the only one who is holding back a laugh at her pronunciation.

"La Luna," Lynn says a bit more ease.

Kiké stares at his cards, and marks his space with a frijol.

"Rosa," she calls out. "El Co…ra…zon."

"Would you hurry up?!" complains Kiké.

"Hey! You gave me these cards to call out, so don't complain because I can't speak Spanish as fast as you!" Lynn retorts. She resumes, "Las Ja…ras."

The family laughed, until Alicia spoke and corrected Lynn, "Jaras."

"Jaras," Lynn repeated properly. "Okay, El Dia…blito."

Lynn continues calling the cards as if, and soon enough as she was almost halfway through calling the cards, she yells out, "Bingo!"

Kiké groans loudly, "¿Ya está el pozole?" he asks his mom.

Alicia gets up from her seat, and turns to Lynn, "¿Me puedes ayudar con la comida? Ustedes mientras pueden limpiar la mesa," she tells her sons.

Lynn nods and follows the woman to the kitchen. As they both left the room, Lynn can hear the other four family members make conversation as they cleaned up and set the table for the meal. This is the first time that Lynn ever spent with the family for a major holiday, and aside from the language barrier that Lynn and Alicia had to deal with it, things seem to be going smoothly.

When the two women walk into the kitchen, which like the rest of the house was decorated for the holiday, the kitchen is no exception; everywhere Lynn looked it reminded her of her house growing up, it sort of makes her wonder why Francisco mentioned that Christmas was dull at his house.

"Man…you definitely go all out for Christmas," Lynn says to Alicia, "I mean, very pretty," she says with a smile and an approving nod, hoping that the older woman would understand despite knowing that she does not understand her words.

"Thank you," she responds. "Perdóname por la impaciencia de Enrique, desde que era niño, se enojaba por todo. Unas veces, pensaba que no mas lo hiso para agarrar atención, pero otras veces no mas por ser mendigo."

Lynn stares at Alicia; not sure what she said.

Alicia notes the younger woman's confusion and says, "Sorry por Enrique."

"Its fine," Lynn says, she was used to their little game even after all these years.

Elena walks into the kitchen to join Lynn and her grandmother. For the last couple of hours, she was hoping to ask Lynn what made her change her mind about spending time with them, but she didn't want her dad around in case he beats Lynn to a response.

"Hey Lynn," Elena says with a little fear in her voice.

Alicia opens the pot in which the pozole was resting in, the steam comes up and makes the warm room worse than it already was.

Lynn rushes towards the window in the kitchen and opens it up, "I'm sorry, but it's really hot in here," she lets the cold winter air hit her, and she turns around to Elena, who is beginning to bleed from her nose. "Wow, you do that too?"

The girl doesn't know what she means, until she sees her abuelita gesture at her nose. Like her father and uncles, she was prone to suffering from nosebleeds when exposed to dry air, luckily, it seems to happen much less frequently with age, but it's still an inconvenience.

"Alright, let me stop your suffering," Lynn closes the window.

"It's not really suffering, it goes away in a few minutes."

Alicia gently holds her granddaughter's head back, "Ve acuéstate, y ahorita te chequeo. Ten," she grabs a kitchen towel and runs it under some cold water.

Elena sighs as her abuelita leads her to the couch to lie down.

The men see her with the wet towel, and they knew what happened. Francisco asks, "Lynn opened the kitchen window?"

She nods.

Francisco looks over at her, "It's not a lot, is it?"

She shakes her head.

"Good, I remember hating having to lay in bed waiting for it to stop too. Just stay put and before you know it, you'll be enjoying your abuela's pozole."

Chuy goes to the kitchen to help Lynn and his mother bring the bowls into the living room, where the brothers have already placed spoons, toppings, tostadas, and pops for everyone.

While the eldest brother is gone, Francisco whispers to Kiké, "Can you please be civil for the rest of the night? I want to have one nice holiday without worrying about yelling or anyone ruining mom's Christmas."

Kiké was already planning on at least making dinner enjoyable to the best of his abilities, but to mess with his younger brother's head, he crosses his arms and with a smug look on his face, tells his younger brother, "You're in for a long wait, Pancho."

* * *

_Francisco knocks on Lynn's door. He's already delivered tamales to Margo, and now all he has left is Lynn and then he can go home; except he doesn't want to go home. He heard his dad mentioning that cousins are going to visit later today, and he can already sense his mom freaking out as she gets the house cleaned for the visitors._

_He sniffs in some cold air as he stares at the door, he can hear a lot of talking, and he assumes that no one heard his knocking. He sees the doorbell, and presses on it; a shock of electricity courses up his arm, and he screams from the shock._

_The door opens and one of Lynn's older sisters opens the door, "O. ! It's a Christmas caroler, and he's sick too!"_

"_Leni, that's Francisco," another blonde sister tells the other. "Lynn! Francisco is here!" she calls to her younger sister, she turns to him, "You can come inside if you want," she invites him._

"_Aww, I thought that he was going to sing."_

_Francisco chuckles, "I don't think that you want to hear that. You're better off with Lana singing to you," he suggests._

_Upon hearing that, a little blonde, offended by the boy's comment, begins to sing Frosty the Snowman as she foregoes cleaning the wrapping paper that she and the other younger sisters were picking up._

_Lynn runs down the stairs, "Lola, what are you doing?"_

"_What? Francisco said that Lana is a good singer, can you believe that?" Lola asks, before going back to singing._

_Lynn turns to her uninvited guest, "Nice to see you, but what are you doing here?"_

"_Merry Christmas to you too?"_

"_Oh! Merry Christmas to you too, but seriously, why are you here? I thought that you'd be hanging out with your family today or avoiding me after the birthday party I tried throwing you."_

_He playfully rolls his eyes as he remembers the birthday she tried to throw him before school let out, he pulls up the bags of tamales, "My mom thought that you and your family would want some, and we celebrated yesterday, so there's nothing going on at home except reruns and holiday specials."_

_Lynn takes the bag and looks inside. Francisco has told her about the tamales that his mom makes for Christmas, but she can't recall the fillings that he mentioned, "How many are there?"_

"_About forty, so three or so each?"_

"_Aww I was hoping for more. C'mon! Let's heat these babies up," she says as she takes a bag from him._

"_Fifth eldest sister, we just had a holiday breakfast feast, how can you possibly be hungry?"_

_Francisco turns to the girl in glasses, "You haven't seen her eat in the cafeteria; she can put away a meatball sandwich, chips, and milk and still crave our leftovers, Luna."_

_The sisters stare at him, wondering why he called Lisa by the wrong name. Despite, him knowing Lynn for a few years, he still hasn't gotten the hang of each of the sisters' names._

_Lynn sighs heavily, "Do I seriously have to teach you my sisters' names again? How many times have we gone over this and how many times have you met them?"_

"_One time, you've gone over everyone's names one time, and I've only met them a handful of times before today," he turns to Lisa, "Sorry for getting your name wrong, Lily."_

_Lisa corrects him, "It's Lisa. Please try to remember it in the future."_

"_I'll try."_

* * *

"So what do you think?" asked Caroline, as she shows her daughter two different venues for the wedding.

Elena stares at the two pictures as she tries to determine which one she likes best; she isn't sure, the church seems nice, but she can't picture her mother not attempting to have some sort of wedding with a nice outdoor venue like the island destination.

Caroline has gone through most of the details in her mind. She knows that her daughter has wants to help her plan the wedding, but she's the indecisive type, and if Caroline asked for her opinion too often, then the girl will slow the planning down, so she is willing to listen to her input on the venue.

"When is the wedding taking place? Late spring? Summer? Early Fall? Mid-Fall? Winter?" she asks, "I mean, some places might look nicer in certain seasons, oh, but is it going to be an outdoor wedding or indoor? Because you might have to get tents depending on the weather…"

Caroline chuckles to herself at her daughter's nature, but she can't blame the girl, it is important and it does possibly add or reduce costs depending on the choice made.

Rather than watch the girl stress herself out anymore, Caroline says, "We were hoping for June, does that help you out?"

"A little, but summer weddings work so well in both locations, I mean, Mackinac Island is a beautiful location and you an Andrew can show up in a horse carriage," she sighs. "but it's a little further away and unless family is willing to make the drive, you may not have too many guests."

"But it is a beautiful location," Caroline begins to tempt her daughter; at some point, one of her parents begins to do so to hurry the decision making process along.

Elena nods, "and I also loved that week that we went up there with grandpa and aunt Violet."

"Wouldn't it be nice to make another memory up there?" the mother continues to tempt her daughter.

The girl stares at the photos of both locations and her eyes begin to drift towards the island. Her mother clearly is tempted, Andrew is an outdoorsy guy, and chances are that if the family heads up there for the wedding, she'll likely stay with them for a few more days and have an opportunity to buy some of the island's famous fudge.

Elena begins to smile, and Caroline knows that she won her daughter over, "I guess, Mackinac Island would be nice, and their website does mention it as a national wedding spot, especially when the photos make it look like a fairy tale."

Caroline asks, "So you think Mackinac Island would be good venue?"

"I think so," Elena confirms.

A knock at the front door interrupts the two, Caroline looks at the time, "Your dad is here. Go get your things," she tells the girl, who is tidying up the photos before heading upstairs to her room.

Caroline opens the front door, and greets Francisco, "Hello Francisco."

"Hey Caroline, how are you doing?"

"I'm doing fine, Elena was helping me out with some wedding preparations."

Francisco smiles, "Are you planning on getting married before or after she becomes a teenager?" he jokes.

Caroline laughs and soon Francisco does as well.

"No, but I just gently nudged her towards a wedding on Mackinac Island."

"Nudged her," he repeats, "More like you knew what you wanted and then you brought up some sentimental feeling and suddenly she deems it the best place, while thinking that she helped with the wedding preparations."

"She can help in other ways, but I needed to reserve the location," Caroline responds. Suddenly she remembers that she needs to tell him something. She closes the front door, "Before she gets here," she starts, "the wedding is this June."

Francisco is quiet; he isn't sure where this was going, he knows that he won't be invited, and if he is, well it would be rather strange to show up to his ex's wedding, especially with her family around.

"Andrew and I were hoping that Elena could participate and be there for the ceremony…"

"It's going to be on one of my days," he says as he finishes her sentence.

"Yes, it is," she confirms. "Also, my sister offered to watch Elena while Andrew and I go on our honeymoon."

"And I can assume that your sister wants to keep her from the start of the ceremony until you come back?" he asks, with a subtle tone that lets Caroline know how he feels about that.

"Look, I get that you aren't excited about this–"

"Of course I'm not!" he interrupts, "I can take care of my own daughter, you know, contrary to whatever your sister says."

Caroline scowls and begins to whisper to keep Elena from hearing them, "Look, I get that you and my sister don't get along, but unless you plan on making a trip to Mackinac Island to pick her up after the ceremony, it's going to be easier for that weekend."

"And what about the rest of the week?" he asks in a matching whisper, "Is she just going to stay with Violet, you know that I can take care of her."

"You work, and my sister already stays with her in the daytime during the summer. I think that she'll be fine for a week. Elena's not a little girl anymore; she isn't going to be enamored by a bunch of shiny toys or a trip to Chicago."

"Chicago?! I thought that we agreed that we both had to know about these trips before she goes."

"She's not going to Chicago. I told Violet that they're staying here, and if they plan on going anywhere I have to know. Francisco, I'm taking care of it, and it's only one week. After that, Andrew and I return and everything goes back to normal."

"I've been working shorter hours, and Jackson can watch her or maybe I can take her to work, it's at the university," he bargains with her.

Caroline crosses her arms, "You told me that your neighbor moonlights at different places randomly and your work is at a BSL-3 laboratory, so who's going to watch her while you or your neighbor work?"

"I can arrange some things, and if not that, what if I pick her up?"

She sighs, "Do you really want to keep driving everyday to drop Elena off at my sister's before you go to work and pick her up after you work? Francisco," she places her hand on his shoulder, "I know that you don't like missing your days with her, but it's only one week, after that everything goes back to normal."

"She'll almost be eleven at the time of the wedding," he starts. "What if she stays home alone for a few hours?"

Caroline lets go of him, "I don't like the idea of her being alone, especially with some of sketchier neighbors that you have, I'm sorry Francisco, but I've made up my mind." She opens the door to call their daughter, "I'll see you Sunday," she tells him.

* * *

_Francisco bites down on a chocolate chip cookie, "Thank you, Mr. Loud. These cookies are delicious."_

_Lynn Sr. looking happily at the teenager chomping down on the cookie, "Well, I'm glad you like them, if you want I can give you some to take home."_

_Lynn, with a mouth full of cookies and milk, talks, but no one could tell what she was saying. She swallows the snack, "Why don't you just give him the recipe? I bet he'd love that."_

_Francisco shakes his head, "No, that's okay. Besides, my mom isn't much of a baker, we wouldn't ever use the recipe to begin with."_

_The girl gets up from her seat and looks around the kitchen for her dad's recipe book, "Nonsense! Besides, now you'll have something sweet for the holidays," she searches in the cabinets and finds a black book, "Found it!"_

_The older man turned to the boy, "I don't mind if you want the recipe, you know. We can make it an even trade for your mom's tamale recipe," he winks before taking a bite of a chicken tamale._

_Feeling the pressure from both Lynns, Francisco decides to take a photo of the cookie recipe so that he can try it out one day, "I'll send the tamale recipe with Lynn when I get it from my mom."_

_Lynn Sr. takes the plates to the sink, "What are you planning on doing today?"_

_Francisco shrugs his shoulders, "I don't really have much planned since my family and I celebrated yesterday."_

"_That's boring!" Lynn responds, "Why don't you hang out here, or maybe we can go to park or go swimming."_

"_Lynn," Francisco starts, "it's Christmas and it's cold outside."_

_Lynn Sr. laughs, "She keeps wanting to jump in the lake for a frozen swim–"_

"_But no one let's me try," Lynn complains. "What if we go to the park or something, I bet it's more fun than just watching reruns."_

"_Lynn," her dad interrupts, "maybe Francisco would rather spend time with his family today."_

_Upon hearing that Francisco, remembered his father's words; his cousins are going to be at his house and if it's anything like last year, they're going to be there until evening. Normally, he wouldn't mind, but his parents insist that he spend time with his little cousins, and there's only so much fun he can have with a toddler and a second grader._

"_Well, we aren't doing anything, but I don't want to take you from your family."_

"_It's no big deal, we can hang out for a bit and be back by lunch time, what do you say dad?"she pulls out her puppy-dog eyes routine and Lynn Sr. can't resist._

"_Alright, but only until lunch, LJ."_

"_Deal! I'll go get my coat."_

_The two teens head out into the snowy neighborhood. It's a silent walk, and Francisco is surprised that Lynn hasn't said anything yet._

"_Did you get anything good for Christmas?"_

"_Mostly clothes, that's usually what my mom gets us."_

"_That's it?! No offense, but that seems kinda boring. I mean you can get clothes whenever you want."_

_Francisco shrugs his shoulders; any present that he gets from his mom is hardly a surprise, and not just because she gets him and his brothers clothing every time, but also because she asks her sons what they want every time._

"_We're used to it."_

"_What about your dad, did he get you anything?"_

_He clears his throat and in a deep voice he says, "You have a roof over your head and warm food, son."_

_Now Lynn felt a little bad; it isn't the worst thing, but in her eyes Christmas should be more fun than that._

_He feels uncomfortable with the silence and challenges her, "Race you to the park!" he yells as he begins to run._

"_Oh, you're on!" Lynn says as she speeds down the sidewalk._

_The two run down the street without a care in the world. They can see the sign for Ketcham Park, and put in that last blast of energy to finish._

"_I win!" they both yelled at once._

"_No! I won!" They repeated, before bursting into laughter._

_The two stop laughing and Lynn spots blood trickling down his nose. She reaches over to wipe it off, and he steps away from her, "What are you doing?"  
_

_"Your nose is bleeding."_

_"Then tell me, don't just wipe my nose clean," he laughs._

_She joins in until she remembers what she was going to ask him, "So I'm curious, why didn't you want to hang out with your family?"_

_He's surprised by the question, but rather than answer, "I could ask you the same thing. I mean, you guys seem like you have a lot of fun and instead you choose to hang out with me?"_

_Lynn is about to answer, but realizes that he's trying to change the subject, "I'm serious, what's so bad about your family?"_

_He sighs, "There's nothing bad about them, I just didn't want to be cooped up in a quiet house until school starts."_

"_Your birthday's coming up, is your house quiet then?"_

_It isn't, but again, it's the same problem; too many family members most of which are too young, too old, or complete strangers that he's never met all in a small house. He wouldn't mind spending the holidays with just his immediate family, but his dad always invites extended family and it just goes from relaxing time off to stress cleaning and hearing his parents gossip with the other adults._

"_Sometimes."_

_Lynn scoffs, "And you didn't want me to throw you a birthday party."_

"_You tried to throw me a quinceañera."_

"_I don't see the problem."_

"_I'm a boy!"_

_Lynn grabs some snow off the ground, forms it into a ball and tosses it at him, "Quit complaining," she says with a smile._

_Francisco bends down to grab some snow and Lynn can see what he's about to start._

"_Oh you're going down."_

* * *

Lynn looks out the window; the snow is melting, the air is still cool, and the sun is still going to be out for maybe another hour. Excluding work, errands, occasional trips to her apartment, the gym and a few snowball fights, she and Francisco have been indoors more often than not, but spring is almost here and she's ready to go out again.

She walks over to Francisco, who is reading a newspaper, and asks, "Do you want to go for a walk?"

Without looking up, he asks, "Why? It's almost time to make dinner and Crash Course is on tonight, you know we both love watching that."

She presses down on the newspaper and looks at him, "We can order something to eat, pick it up, and eat here. Besides, we'll be back before seven. C'mon! Aren't you sick of being cooped up inside reading?"

Truthfully, he is. He's not fond of driving in the dark in the winter, so that limits his time outdoors, and most of the season is spent doing the same thing over and over again.

"Alright, but let just put on my boots, and we can go," he tells her as he sets down his newspaper and heads to his room.

He closes the door and opens the drawer in his nightstand and takes out a pill from his little amber bottle, which he swallows dry. Francisco quickly grabs his boots and puts them on when he hears Lynn from the front door.

Lynn, dressed for the cool weather, is scrolling through her phone, "What do you want for dinner? There's a pizza place near here, maybe burgers, fried chicken, or maybe we can find a food truck, if you don't mind splurging a little."

Francisco walks to the door, and grabs his coat, "Fried chicken doesn't heat up too well, and how many food trucks are you planning on seeing along the way?"

"You never know."

He doesn't believe that they'll run into many, it's not late, but most of the food trucks have probably begun to head into the city at this hour.

"How about a burger? I'm craving some curly fries right now."

Lynn puts her phone away, "Alright, let's go!" she says as she runs out the door and to the sidewalk, "Hurry up!"

Francisco locks his front door, and slowly walks towards her.

Seeing him slowly step in her direction, she asks, "Are you serious? What the heck, Francisco?"

"You said that we are going on a walk, so I'm walking, plus I don't want to slip."

"Your boots are slip-resistant," she tells him. 'I've read them."

He chuckles, "Why did you read my boots?"

"I was bored and I was looking for a hangar for my shirts."

"My boots are on the floor."

"You could have hangars there too," she said in an effort to excuse her nosiness.

"Just slow down for a minute, enjoy your surroundings, besides Burpin' Burger isn't going anywhere," he tells her, as he wraps his arm around her shoulder.

Lynn looks nervously looks down at the sidewalk. He's normally not the type to show affection, big or small, and she's okay with that since she's not that needy, but this little act feels…nice.

The alarm on his watch goes off, and he takes his arm from her to turn off the time piece, "Sorry, I forgot that it was almost time for it to go off."

"Yeah, warn someone next time," she jokes. "So did you bring your medicine?"

He checks his pockets and can feel a bottle in his pocket, "Yeah, but I'm not feeling much pain right now."

Lynn shrugs her shoulders and takes his arm, "Alright, but don't say that your alarm didn't warn you."

"I won't," he tells her. "Can I ask you something? Why did you really want to go a walk right now?"

"Really? Is it such a bad thing to want to spend time outside with you?" she asks.

He smiles, No, but I guess I shouldn't be surprised. You've been trying to think of something to do all winter."

She wasn't limited in what she could do, but she always insisted that he join her for whatever random activity popped into her head; from either another polar bear plunge, to skiing, or ice skating on a lake of her choosing. He didn't mind indulging her requests, but as the New Year came in, heavier snow storms forced the couple indoors, and she slowly became more frustrated at not being able to leave and enjoy her favorite activities.

The smell of burgers and fries begins to hit both of their noses, and Lynn feels as if she's floating towards the scent. Francisco can see that she just wants to run and burst through those doors, but he just wants to take a nice leisurely walk.

Rather than force her to wait for him, he digs out some money from his pocket, "Get me a Double Belcher with curly fries, and surprise me on the pop," he digs out more money, "And this should cover your food."

"Really? I can wait," she says, offended that he thinks that she would be willing to ditch him for the food.

Francisco begins a mental countdown from ten, and before he reaches three, Lynn grabs the money from his hand, "I'll be right back, you can just catch up," she tells him before running to the burger joint.

"Remember! It's a to-go order!" he yells to her, as he slowly follows.

The sound of snow crunching underneath his feet keeps him company as continues after her. He begins to think about how she wanted to walk with him, before he tempted her with the money and before Burpin' Burger tempted her with their scent.

"Is it really such a bad thing that she wants to spend time with me?" he asks himself out loud. "It isn't," he responds.

When Lynn is no longer in sight, he remembers Elena's Christmas Eve recital from a few months ago, and how Caroline asked about why Lynn doesn't spend time when his daughter is around. He can't recall if he's invited her, but that's never stopped Lynn from trying; rather than waste time thinking about if he asked, he begins muttering possible ways of bringing up the topic to her.

He hears footsteps quickly approach him, and sees Lynn with two bags of food and a drink carrier running towards him.

"Hey!" she calls out as she begins to slow down, "Sorry, I took so long, they had to make new fries," she says happily, as she bites down on a fresh curly fry.

He didn't even notice how much time had passed, "It's fine," he tells her, as his hand begins to sneak into her bag.

She quickly smacks his wrist, "You got your own fries, mister."

He laughs, "Well it sounds like you were trying to sell me on your fries," he jokes.

The two quietly walk back to his house, and Francisco breaks the silence, "You know, Elena doesn't mind if you want to hang out with us on Saturdays, you know that, right?"

Lynn stays quiet and continues walking. After so many years, she figures that Elena wouldn't mind, but she still can't bring herself to intrude on the girl's time with her father, even if they didn't mind.

"I know…but we hang out enough. I'm sure you want a break from me," Lynn tries to laugh off.

Francisco stares at her; that thought never ran through his mind, and he knew that she didn't mean it either.

"Well, just know that you're always welcome."

"Alright."

* * *

_Lynn dodges a snowball he throws at her and laughs, when she hears her phone ring. She checks to see the text that she received from one of her family members, "Dang it, I have to get going. It's almost time for lunch."_

_Francisco looks at his watch and is surprised by the time, "Yeah, I should probably get home, my family is probably wondering where I am."_

"_Alright…" she says looking down at the snowball in her hand._

_He sees the projectile in her hand and he quickly grabs some snow that he forms into a ball, "Let's go."_

"_Okay," she says, while still holding onto the snowball._

_She notices that he's following her, "Are you walking me home?"_

"_No, I just don't want to turn my back to you with a snowball in your hand."_

"_Smart."_

_The two silently walk until the end up in front of her house. Francisco sets his snowball down, "Thanks for the recipe, I'll let you know how they turned out."_

"_No problem."_

"_I should probably get going before my folks call, thanks for hanging out."_

"_Of course. I'll see you at school or your birthday or whatever comes first," Lynn slowly steps back, without turning away from him._

_Francisco doesn't move from his spot, "I'm not gonna throw the snowball at you!"_

"_Well, I just want to make sure," she says with a smile on her face. She opens the front door, and throws the snowball in his direction._

"_Miss! Nice try, Loud."_

"_I'll get you next time!" she declares._

_Francisco rather than heading towards his house, the teenager walks around for a bit, bored as he notices how empty the streets are on Christmas day. He slowly walks to his house. As he's at the front door, he can hear his family members talking inside, and he imagines that everyone is going to ask where he's been._

_He opens the door and the guests get quiet as a variety of cousins stop to greet the teenager who finally shows up after being gone for most of the day._

_He heads into the kitchen to get some tamales for a late lunch. While he waits for the microwave to alert him of his food, his eldest brother walks in to get a pop._

"_Where have you been all day?"_

"_Out."_

"_On Christmas day? What could you have possibly done today?"_

"_I went to deliver tamales to my friends, we talked, their families invited me inside and we talked for a bit. Time sorta got away from me."_

_Chuy doesn't believe him, but he doesn't want to make a scene, despite how frustrated he is with his brother ditching the family on Christmas day._

"_Well, that sounds nice."_

_Francisco can tell that he's mad at him for being gone, he decides not to say a thing. _

_Chuy stares at his quiet brother and just sighs instead, "Just clean the kitchen when you're done."_

* * *

Francisco sits outside on Saturday. The heat from the sun is beginning to make him sweat, but he can't bring himself to get up and go inside.

A door opens, and Jackson notices that Francisco is sitting and staring at his roof, "Are you okay, Francisco?"

He silently nods. Jackson knows that that isn't true, after so many years, he knows that whenever he silently nods with the same stern look on his face, it meant that he didn't want to speak in fear of letting his emotions out. The neighbor is aware that Elena wasn't going to be around this weekend, but it never ceases to amaze him how badly Francisco gets when he can't see his daughter.

"Are you sure that you wouldn't rather be indoors away from this heat?"

He sighs, "I guess…"

Jackson notices that Francisco isn't moving, and decides to make light conversation with the man, "Francisco, have you ever gone on vacation out of the country?"

"Just to Mexico, but I wouldn't count that as a vacation."

"Why not?"

"Because we never did anything. Most of the time, I either played with my toys or watched tv with my brothers. I mean, sometimes we went to the beach, but that was the only fun thing we did."

"Why do you say that?"

"I don't know. From what I remember, my mom said that the only reason we went there was because it was the only fun thing that she knew of in the area."

"That's it? So you never enjoyed your trips to Mexico?"

Francisco shakes his head, "I love my grandparents, but I couldn't stand the heat. They didn't have an air conditioner and I sorta wanted to do something more…fun."

Jackson nods his head and is about to ask another question when he hears his house phone ring, "I should get that. Remember neighbor; don't stay out in this heat for too long."

"I won't!"

Francisco feels his forehead, he's beginning to feel a little warm, so gets up and goes inside. Rather than turn on the lights, he sits on his recliner in the dark. As his eyes acclimate to the darkness, he looks around the empty room and thinks of how things were before Elena was ever able to visit, before Caroline arranged for him to get her on the weekends, before her family tried to buy Elena's affection.

He closes his eyes and decides to take a nap to hopefully forget about his loneliness, when the front door opens and Lynn walks through.

"I know that you probably would've wanted a head's up, but I figured that a surprise is more fun, and–" she notices the darkness. She turns on a light and sees Francisco sitting on the recliner, "There you are! Where's Elena? I wanted to surprise her."

"She's not here…she's at Caroline's wedding."

"Oh!" she checks her phone, "That's this weekend?"

He nods.

She turns on more lights, "Well, then we can have fun together? Maybe a board game? You got one?"

He shakes his head.

"What about a movie? Is there anything that you've been wanting to stream?"

He shakes his head again.

"What the hell has you so dang mopey? Look, I get that you really want Elena here, but is shooting down every single one of my ideas really going to solve anything? No. So why don't we get out and go do something? Maybe we can even crash that wedding, you know, really have some dumb fun."

Francisco raises an eyebrow; he knows that she isn't serious about that last part, but she did make a point.

He opens his mouth and slowly starts, "I'm upset, because…" Lynn waits to hear his response. "I'm upset, because I hate the idea of Elena spending so much time with Caroline's sister."

"That's it?!" she asks, surprised by his response. Lynn assumed that it was going to be something bigger, but he just didn't want Elena to spend time with her aunt.

Francisco takes a deep breath, "Lynn…for a long time, I've watched my daughter be exposed to Caroline's family. The same upper-middle class family that loves taking her on nice vacations or trips whenever I'm supposed to care for her, the same family that gives her almost everything she wants, just because she asks, the same family that looks at me and sees some idiot who got their princess pregnant out of wedlock, the same family thinks that I'm just after their money, and the same family that thinks that I'm just some troublemaker with no future."

Lynn looks at him. She could see the frustration manifest as tears in his eyes that none have shed yet. She didn't know that he was going through that. Francisco rarely talks about Caroline or her family, but base on his current reaction, she's sure that it the interactions aren't great.

"And Violet…she is one of the worst critics. When Caroline and I were together, she would never really hide what she thought of me, and I know it's silly, but I always wanted to show her that she was wrong about me, but…" he shakes his head, "It doesn't matter. The point is, I hate knowing that Elena is going to be with them, her really, especially when Caroline and I aren't around."

"It bugs you that much, huh?" Lynn wishes that she knew what to say, "Is it going to be a long time? I guess it doesn't matter, but Elena's a good girl, and it's not like Caroline is going to keep her from you."

Francisco tilts his head to let her know that he heard her, "I know that she's a good girl–"

"Then what's freaking you out?" she interrupts

"I told you already!" he takes a deep breath.

"C'mon Francisco! Be real! You know that she won't fall for whatever lies that her aunt tells her about you, so what's really freaking you out?!"

He taps his fingers, "I don't know!" he sighs, "I just…I don't want…I don't want her to get so used to the things that they give her."

He isn't sure of what really is bothering him, but his mind and heart feel like they're going a million miles a minute trying to think of the real reason.

Lynn takes a seat next to him, "One weekend isn't going to change her."

"Yeah, but little by little they're getting to her and all that'll be left is for her to get sick of visiting and never wanting to come over anymore."

It's his worst case scenario. He knows that he brought it on himself when he asked Caroline to give her the best education that she could, and it didn't take long for Jacob to pounce and offer Elena private school, museum memberships, trips to the country club, and vacations outside of the general area. Heck, he's sure that he would be probably be tempted to head in their direction too if they liked and offered him the same opportunities.

"You're being ridiculous."

"Excuse me?"

"I'm serious," Lynn says. "I mean, what can they give her that you can't?"

"Most reasonable things that money can buy," he answers. "But I wouldn't blame her for walking in that direction; I probably would have if I was given the opportunity."

Lynn can't blame him. She can recall how growing up, he would show up in either hand-me-down clothes and equipment, and while it's not like she didn't do that same, he just always looked at the better things he didn't have instead.

"Can they love her the way you do?"

"Sort of."

"That's not the same, so that's your thing. I know that you aren't the perfect dad–"

"Thank you?"

"Let me finish," she interrupts, "but you really care about her, and I think that she knows that. I mean, hold on," she gets up and finds the photo of the father and daughter from their Christmas at Dairy Land a few years ago and shows it to him, "do you really think that this little girl is going to forget about the nice things you do with her?"

In all fairness, the reason they even went was because of Lynn, but he understands what she's trying to tell him.

When she sees his eyes begin to soften, she pulls him into a hug, "See! You remember. Now stop pretending that she's going to forget about you in a week."

"Easier said than done."

"Fine! I'll find a way to make you forget," she says as sets the photo down and places a kiss on his lips.


	26. Family and the Morning After

Francisco opens the door to the bedroom, and sees Lynn attempt to sleep. He steps closer to the trashcan near her and sees that it is empty, but he knows that eventually she is going to heave into it again, like she has for the last couple of hours. He sits next to her and feels her forehead, which is burning up. He places an icepack on her forehead and sees her open her eyes.

"How are you feeling?" he asks.

"Like crap," she complains. For the last two days, she's been feeling sick, and was managing fine, but hasn't been improving and the vomiting has been getting worse. Rather, than letting her suffer, Francisco suggested that he take her to the doctor for treatment, but she insists that she'll be fine.

"Can you get up?" he asks as he tries to help her.

Lynn feels a sharp pain in her back as she moves and lays back down in bed. She bites down on her lip, "How the hell do you deal with pain like this every day?"

Francisco smiles and helps her back into bed, "Pain pills do help a lot. Are you sure you don't want any?"

She shakes her head, "How the heck am I going to take your medicine? Besides, I can handle it."

"I meant over the counter stuff, but okay," he says as he strokes her hand. "Do you want me to bring you something to eat?" she shakes her head. "Lynn, you've got to eat something."

"What's the point?" she groans, "it's just gonna come back up again."

He fluffs her pillow, "Because you need to put something in your stomach. I'm making some soup for you, so get some rest and I'll bring it up when it's ready.

"Canned soup?" she says with disdain, "Fine, but add water so that it's not too salty." As he heads out the door, "Wait! Can you get a hold of Lisa and tell her that I'm sick. She'll send me something to feel better."

Francisco can't believe that Lisa will be that overly concerned with her older sister's health, but knowing her curiosity towards diseases, he's willing to call her and get Lynn taken care of.

"Alright, I'll let her know."

He sends Lisa a text letting her know that Lynn isn't feeling well, and she lets him know that she will be there at her earliest convenience; which can mean any time, especially since Lisa doesn't drive and is highly dependent on Lily or someone else to transport her.

Francisco goes to check on his chicken soup, when he hears a whirring noise in the direction of backyard. He opens the balcony door and sees a drone flying in the air. A screen pops out of the drone and turns on, "Greetings, potential brother-in-law."

"Hey, Lisa…" Francisco says, unsure how drone Lisa is going to treat Lynn.

"Now where is my patient?"

"In the master bedroom."

"Very well, please clear out of the way, I do not wish to give you an impromptu haircut from the blades of the drone," she warns him before flying into the room.

Francisco clears the way, and the speed of drone's blades scatters all the lightweight items in the living room. He tries to organize it again, until he hears Lisa's voice in the hallway.

"Francisco, can you open the door?" He quickly runs to open the door, and drone turns around, "Can you close the door?"

"How will you get out?"

"I'll call on you again," Lisa says bluntly, before he closes the door. The drone turns to Lynn, and Lisa asks, "So what it is ailing you fifth eldest sister?"

Lynn heaves into the trashcan, "I think it's happening again."

* * *

_Lynn grabs her backpack from her closet; tomorrow, is the first day of school, but not just any school, it's her first day of middle school. She's heard stories from her older sisters and they've mentioned how she would have more teachers, more electives, and more clubs to choose from; she can't wait._

_Lucy looks at her sister's half of the room and, while normally messy, is surprised by how much she is tossing around to get herself ready for tomorrow. She takes a seat in her coffin and observes Lynn as picks out what to wear for school tomorrow._

"_Maybe these basketball shorts and a T-shirt? Or what about the running shorts and my sleeveless tee?" _

_Lucy speaks up, "You know that Patchy Drizzle said that it's going to be cool tomorrow, right?"_

_Lynn jumps up after being spooked by her younger sister, "Where did you come from?"_

_The younger sister shrugs her shoulders and lies back down in her coffin. She can still hear Lynn moving things around in the closet as she searches for something what Lucy presumes to be a jacket or hoodie._

_Luan walks by her younger sister's room, "Lynn, don't forget to backpack your school map, you don't want to get lost hall day," she laughs at her puns, "Get it?"_

_The younger sister sighs, "I know, I know," she says, frustrated by family's insistence that she can't get herself ready for school alone._

_The next day, Rita is taking the kids to school, "Remember kids, you need to take the bus home today. I have a doctor's appointment this afternoon and I'm not sure when I'll be home. Lincoln, I'm counting on you to make sure that Lucy doesn't get lost." The boy nods as he accepts his mission. "Leni, Lynn, make sure you look for your older sister after school so you know what bus to take home, got it?"_

_The two girls nod._

_Rita pulls up to the high school and drops off her two oldest daughters, "Have a good day!"_

"_Thanks mom," they say, before heading towards the school._

_She pulls up again into the middle school and the three sisters get out of Vanzilla, "Have a good day!"_

"_Thanks mom," they say as she pulls away._

_Lynn looks at the middle school in awe. Despite taking a tour in fifth grade, it still amazes her to now attend this new school with new kids, teachers, and classes. With a smile on her face, Lynn walks inside for her first day of middle school. _

* * *

Lynn walks in silence through the forest. Lucy insisted that the two sisters go on a leisurely stroll, and she didn't want to take no for an answer; which didn't help since Lynn blew her off a few days ago.

The older sister hears the birds and insects and sees the sun as it peers through an opening in the trees; she can see why this stuff used to bother her sister when they are kids, instead it looks like she's enjoying herself as she twirls her oversized umbrella.

"Are you okay, Lynn?" asks Lucy.

The elder sister looks at her younger sister and flatly says, "I'm fine. I'm just…bothered that we're walking and you insist on that huge umbrella. There are trees keeping the sunlight out, why do you need an umbrella!?"

Lucy corrects her sister, "It's called a parasol."

"Whatever!" Lynn snaps, "Why did you want me come on this stupid walk anyway? You like the darkness, not the happiness of summer."

"I wanted someone to talk to about my book."

"Why me?! Wouldn't Lisa be a better choice? She's all brutally honest and whatnot, meanwhile, I can barely finish one of your books before you're handing me the next draft."

Lucy nods, "She is, but her thought process is too rigid. Her advice is almost always the same, and I can't branch out if I keep writing formulaic books."

"I guess," Lynn agrees. "So is this from the Lucy Loud collection or from the X.E. Brae one?"

"What do you think?"

Lynn shudders, regardless of which book she reads, it doesn't help, but she'd much rather read her poetry or toned-down romance novels, "Why did you have to go into _that_ kind of writing? Couldn't you just stick to your poems and vampire romances?"

Lucy continues to walk, "Vampires aren't as popular anymore, and I did need money to get myself through school, we can't all get full rides to nice schools like you."

Lynn sighs, "Well it's not my fault that you preferred to sit under the trees writing poetry instead of actually being a kid, besides, Lori got one too, how come no one ever tells her anything?" she playfully defends herself.

Lucy shrugs her shoulders, and continues her walk. She takes in the scenery of the forest and makes mental notes so that she can add it to her book. She looks back and notices Lynn drag her feet as she keeps up with her.

"Are you okay?" she asks, with genuine concern in her voice.

"Yeah, I'm tired and want to sit down for a bit," Lynn answers before taking a seat on a log.

The goth is concerned. Normally, Lynn would be running around and exploring anything new that gets in her way, but to see her sister staring at the ground while staying still; made her worry a bit.

Lucy takes a seat next to her sister and quietly looks out at the trees.

"I'm not gonna talk, you know," Lynn says.

The younger sister isn't expecting her to do so; she'd rather wait for Lynn to open up when she's ready than to force her.

Lynn sighs, "I couldn't keep with your book. I kept getting distracted by other stuff and I forgot to actually read it. I mean, I know that you like my help for some reason, but yeah…baseball sorta got my attention and I just kept rereading the same first paragraph and I can only read it for so long before I eventually get bored and toss it aside. Sorry."

"It's fine," Lucy responds. She's frustrated that Lynn couldn't fulfill her simple request, but it's her own fault for thinking that Lynn is going to change; even as children, if it didn't' involve something that caught her attention, she'd immediately look for anything new to get away from her boredom.

In an effort to lighten the mood, Lucy turns to her sister, "Also, Lynn, I had one more thing that I wanted to tell you."

* * *

_Lynn's homeroom teacher hands out school administration papers, and begins to call the students to hand them their schedules. The sixth-grader looks over her class schedule and silently cheers as she sees gym as her first class of the day_

"_Now remember students, you only have five minutes between classes to get to your classrooms, so try not to be late," the homeroom teacher warns._

_The bell rings, and the students get up from their seats to start first period. Lynn walks into the hallway and notices the large amount of students crowding the hallways. She stays put to take off her backpack and search for her school map. Her backpack is a mess that is filled with the administrative papers that her homeroom teacher just gave her, "Wait…did I pack my map?" She can't remember and rather than waste too much time, Lynn recalls her older sisters' advice – if you need help finding something, go find an upperclassman to help._

_She walks up to an older looking boy and asks, "Excuse me, could you tell me how to get to the gym?"_

_The student smiles, "Oh sure, it's real easy," he leads her towards some stairs, "just head down those stairs."_

_Lynn goes down the stairs and looks around for the entrance to the gym, "It's kinda weird that the gym is downstairs," she tells herself._

_When she toured the school in fifth grade, Lynn spent most of her time looking around at the differences between the elementary and middle school, that she didn't pay too much attention to directions when she was being lead._

"_He wouldn't lead me down this hallway for no reason," she tells herself, as she tries to keep hope alive._

_Lynn looks at the clock on the wall; time is almost up and she still can't find the gym. The bell rings and the sounds of the crowds begin to die down. She looks around and begins to panic; it's the first day and she's already going to get in trouble, especially if she misses her first class._

_Lynn continues her trek down the hallway, until she is met with an intersection; she looks at both directions, both without a student or faculty member around and both seemingly identical to the other, and decides to head right and continue walking._

_Time continues to pass and the bell rings again. Lynn sighs, "Great…now I have to search for my second period class."_

_She keeps looking around, but there is no one in the hallway, "Where are those stairs?" she asks herself, hoping to be able to retrace her steps._

_Another hour passes, and her stomach begins to rumble, Lynn looks around for a clock to see the time, but can't find one. She sits down in the hallway and pulls out her lunch from her backpack, "Some first day…" she tells herself as she takes a bite out of her meatball sandwich._

_Over the course of the day, she struggles to find students, teachers, the gym, her classes, or even a set of stairs to go back up from the basement. Eventually, after the final bell rings for the day, she manages to find an exit sign, and sees students outside._

"_Great…I spent the whole day lost…"_

"_Lynn!" Luna yells to get her sister's attention, "hurry up! We gotta take the bus home today."_

"_Okay..."_

_At home, Rita paces back and forth as she waits for the phone call from the doctor's office. When the phone rings, she quickly goes to answer it, "Hello, Dr.– oh, hello, Principal Ramirez, what? No, I dropped her off at school this morning. I'll speak with her as soon as–" the phone sounds and tells her that she has an incoming call, "I'll talk to you later!" she switches to the call waiting, "Hello?"_

_Upon hearing the doctor's message, Rita drops the phone; she's going to have another baby, "Lynn!" she calls her husband, "I have something to tell you."_

_At dinner time, the Louds are eating their meal; Lynn is poking at her food, annoyed by that older kid who gave her wrong directions. She wanted to ask her older sisters to see if they might know who he is, but she can hear them asking how she got lost when she supposedly had her map._

_Rita looks over at her fifth eldest daughter, "Lynn, I got a call from your principal saying that–"_

_Lynn nervously shovels food into her mouth. She doesn't want to explain to her mom what happened at school, but before she can finish what she was going to say; her dad, who looked as if he is ready to explode, says, "Oh! I can't wait any longer. Kids! Great news! We're having another baby!" _

_The children erupt with pure joy upon hearing that they're getting another sibling, and Lynn quietly sighs as her older sisters' questions begin to take the focus away from her and her bad first day._

* * *

Raffaelina pours coffee onto the vanilla gelato, and places the bowl in front of Lynn. Unlike, other Sundays, Lynn looks more downtrodden than usual, and it begins to pique her interest.

"You didn't come last week," she says as she takes a seat in front of her.

Lynn takes a scoop from her gelato and quietly eats it, "I was sick. I couldn't get out of bed and had to stay home."

"Call next time. I wait like an idiot for you," she lightly scolds. She notices Lynn isn't doing well, and places her hand on her's and asks, "What's wrong?"

Lynn shakes her head, "Nothing."

Raffaelina pulls the affogato away from her, "Say it."

Lynn sighs, "Fine! It's happening again. I'm feeling all mopey, because my siblings are moving on with their lives and all I'm doing is sitting around feeling sorry for myself, while drowning my sorrows in coffee and ice cream. Happy?" she quickly asks before taking her affogato back from Raffaelina.

The older woman sighs. She doesn't like when this happens to Lynn, but she also knows that until she is ready to take those leaps, that there is no chance of her ever overcoming these issues.

"Why do you…think about your siblings like that?"

"I don't know. When it is my older sisters I thought, who cares? They're older than me, I'll get there, plus it is easier to ignore my feelings then. Now, I see my younger siblings doing better, and I wonder if I'm going to catch up." Raffaelina lightly chuckles, and Lynn doesn't appreciate it, "What the heck? I tell you my feelings and you laugh!?"

Raffaelina shakes her head, "No, but why worry? You have nice home, nice man, and when you get real job and not playing money, you have nice job."

Lynn sighs. She knows that Raffaelina isn't fond of her gambling as a source of income, but she isn't happy with any job that she took on; her longest job to date is being an assistant baseball coach, and she doesn't have that anymore.

"Why are you sad?"

"Because, I don't know where things are going. I know that having Francisco is nice, but I don't know what else I want."

"Una famiglia?" Raffaelina asks as she took a bite of her gelato.

Lynn blushes in embarrassment, "What?! No, I'm not ready."

"Not ready?!" Theresa says from the other room, "You've been for dating years and you're still not ready." She walks into the room, "How can you not be ready?"

"Maybe I don't want a family. Maybe I just want to live my life independently and see Francisco every once in a while. Is that so hard to understand?!"

Neither woman believes her. Lynn may not have been the type to ever mention having a husband or kids, but both could picture it, especially when she's dating a man with a child.

"So you grow up with a large family and say, I don't want kids?" Raffaelina asks.

"Yes! No! What does it matter?! Look, I'm not here to talk about having kids, or anything, I just wanted to get something off of my chest and ask how you have been, why don't you get that?!"

Both women stay quiet; Lynn just got defensive, now every one of her responses dealing with the subject is going to be met with short answers, glares, and explosive emotions. However, this time it seems a little different; her eyes look scared, and her mouth appears to be following suit, despite the loud words coming from her. Rather than make things worse, the two decide that telling her about their week can calm her down until she is ready to talk again…about anything.

* * *

_Rita gets out of bed, at almost seven months pregnant, it's getting harder to move and keep up with ten children, but someone has got to do it. She gets changed and when she approaches the stairs she calls out to the kids, "Kids! Time for school," she hears her daughters' footsteps, "you too, Lincoln."_

_She hears her children getting ready, and she heads to the kitchen to pack their lunches. It's the first day back since Christmas break, and she already missed the lazy mornings that had her kids sleeping in for the past two weeks._

"_Kids! Hurry up!" she tells them from downstairs. _

_Lynn Sr. walks out of their room, "Are you taking them to school?"_

"_Yeah, can you watch the Lisa and the twins, until I get back?"_

_He nods, and through a yawn, answers, "Sure. Let me just make breakfast."_

_After everyone is packed and fed, the seven oldest kids rush into Vanzilla to head to school. When the family is only blocks away from the first stop, Vanzilla begins to stall._

"_Oh no…Oh no. Oh no. Oh no. Oh no. Oh no," Rita says as she tries to turn the old vehicle back on._

_The kids see the smoke coming from the engine and Lynn begins to cheer, "Alright, no school!"_

_The others join in her cheering, until Rita gets out of Vanzilla. She checks the engine, but she doesn't know how to fix it. She goes back inside, thinks about calling for a tow truck; she figures that the five oldest can walk to school by themselves, and she can wait to take Lincoln and Lucy to school when she can._

_She turns to the kids, "I've got good news and bad news. The bad news is that I can't fix Vanzilla, the good news is that we're close enough to the middle school and the high school that you girls can walk yourselves."_

_The five oldest groan at having to walk to school in the cold, but they don't have any choice unless they want to risk after school detention._

_They get out of Vanzilla, and hear their mom, "Alright, I trust you girls to get to school as soon as possible, okay?"_

"_Okay," they say in unison before they start their walk to their respective schools._

_Lynn begins to quicken her steps and soon she is running ahead of her older sisters._

_Lori, who notices how far ahead Lynn is getting, yells, "You better not be cutting class!"_

_Lynn doesn't respond, instead she keeps running. She doesn't notice Luna and Luan as they run to try to catch up to her, per Lori's orders to make sure that the younger sister doesn't ditch school. _

_The two older sisters struggle to catch up, but when they see the school in sight, and see Lynn run through the front door they slow to a leisurely walk. Inside, Lynn slowly opens the door of her homeroom, and tries not to draw attention to herself as the teacher welcomes the students back to school._

_She stops talking and calls on Lynn, "Ms. Loud, you're late."_

_Lynn nervously chuckles, "Yeah, rough morning."_

"_Just take a seat."_

_Lynn looks around, her usual seat is taken, but there she spots an empty seat that's far enough from the teacher, but close enough to the door._

_She takes a seat and begins to slouch down on her desk. Despite, only hearing the teacher remind students about school clubs, the girl picked up the habit after struggling to answer so many of her teachers' questions. Her sisters weren't kidding when they said that it's tough to keep up with every class' test and homework schedule; it's like they don't care that another class has a test the same day as another!_

_The bell rings to signal everyone the start of first period. The students begin to get up from their seats, and Lynn attempts to do the same, when she realizes that she can't get herself out of her desk. She tries to force herself off of the seat, but she remains stuck. Some of the students notice her struggling to get out and begin to chuckle._

"_Lynn, it's time to go to first period," her teacher says._

_The girl keeps trying to free herself; at this point, more students in the classroom begin to notice her unfortunate situation, and begin to laugh._

_The teacher tries to help Lynn, but after failing, "Darn these old seats, let me call someone to help." The teacher notices all of the students who are watching, and tries to disperse them, but it doesn't do much good against her first period students who are coming in._

_The teacher calls on the school cook, who armed with peanut butter, looks at Lynn and asks, "Sorry, kid. We're gonna have to grease you out. Got any nut allergies?"_

_Lynn shakes her head before the cook begins to slather her with peanut butter. She is able to free herself from the seat and she immediately runs out of the classroom to go to her locker and ditch her peanut butter stained hoodie._

_When she arrives at the locker room near the gym, Lynn notices some girls giggling while pointing at her. She tries not to think about it, but as she changes into her gym clothes, she can feel the sweet paste on her ponytail._

'_That's why they're laughing…'_

* * *

Lynn tries to catch her breath as she walks onto the shore, Francisco isn't far behind; it has been a while since they've done a competitive swim like this, but it took her by surprise that she no longer has the same lead that she used to have on him.

She turns to the man and says, "Hey, look at that, you're finally catching up."

"Maybe if you didn't jump ahead I can finally beat you," Francisco says as he steps out of the water.

Unlike other times when they raced, Lynn is no longer to keep the large lead as well as she used to; while she still beat him,

"Yeah, right, I can still beat you even if I let you have a five minute head start," she boasts.

Francisco playfully rolls his eyes, and lets her have her moment. He isn't sure if she is letting him believe that he is getting better or not, but it does feel good to be able to feel as confident as he did in his youth.

The two begin to head towards the parking lot, "So, I guess I'll see you next week?" Francisco asks.

"Yeah…no, I mean we can still hang out."

"I guess. I just don't want Dutch to break down when you drive at night," he tells her, worried about the jalopy that she insists on owning.

"No, I mean to spend the night, or stay the next day or so?" she says, hoping that he would get the message.

"Oh," he begins to stumble in his words, "I thought that you weren't ready to hang around when me and Elena have our days."

Lynn shrugs her shoulders, "It had to happen eventually. Why not tonight?"

He doesn't have a reason; he's just stunned that Lynn finally wants to spend the night before he got Elena for the weekend. "Okay, then. Let's go home."

"Let's," she says, as if trying to match a wager.

He looks over at her and wants to be sure, "Do we need to go by your apartment to get something for you to change into?"

Lynn has spent the night before at his house and she does have the occasional habit of leaving some clothes behind, but that doesn't mean that she has enough clothes to change into for the next few days.

"I'll be fine. Besides, I'll just borrow a shirt and pair of shorts from you," she suggests.

"Again? Let's just get you an overnight bag at least."

"Why do you have such a problem with lending me something to wear?" she playfully asks.

He gives her a knowing look, "Because you don't fit into them and they hang off of you."

"I thought that you would like that."

* * *

_Lynn runs down the hallway. After what happened during the standardized test, she figures that all she has to do is avoid the entire sixth grade class for another two months, or wait for someone who to do something more humiliating; whichever comes first._

_She spots her locker, and goes to grab her textbook, when she hears a girl say, "Hey, look! It's Farty McStink Pants."_

_The other kids begin to point and laugh at her, and Lynn quickly walks into her locker to hide from everyone. She closes her eyes to keep herself from seeing their laughing faces, but she can still hear them calling her 'Farty Pants'._

_She closes her eyes to keep herself from seeing their laughing faces and pointing through the slots in the locker, but it doesn't stop the taunts right away. _

_A few minutes later, Lynn notices that the crowd has dispersed and that there wasn't anyone in the hallway. She breathes a sigh of relief, as she can finally get out of the locker, but as she tries to open it she realizes that she's stuck inside, "Dang it…"_

_She bangs her head against the locker in frustration as tears begin to fall from her eyes. This whole school year has been a nightmare for Lynn; the teasing, the academic struggles, and losing most of her old friends, she hates middle school._

_She wishes that she could have experienced it the way her sisters did, they never mentioned being teased or any of the bad things that happened, just a lot of schoolwork. In less than two months, the school year is going to be over and all she'll have to remember is being a laughingstock and hating school._

"_Just a few more weeks," she whispers to herself, and then she can have the summer to get away from everyone that teased her; but then she has to deal with the new baby and whatever happens next with her siblings._

_She frowns and tries not to dwell on that, "It's fine…I can do this…I can do this…I can't do this…"_

_A custodian can hear crying as she passes by the lockers in the hallway. She looks up and assumes that she might have just been hearing things. As she pushes her cleaning cart, she hears the crying again; she slows down and tries to listen in on where the sound is coming from. _

_The custodian presses her ear against the locker, and Lynn sees the woman through the slots, "HELP!"_

_The custodian jumps away from the locker, but hears shuffling inside the locker. She peers inside and notices a pair of eyes staring back at her, "I'll be right back."_

"_Wait! I need to get out of here!" Lynn yells._

_A few minutes later, the custodian returns with her supervisor and the supervisor is opens the locker to free the girl._

_She looks up and hugs the two adults to thank them for letting her out of her confinement, "Thank you," she notices the time on the clock, and realizes that she's missed the bus and is going to have to walk home._

_Lynn sighs, "Dang it…" _

* * *

Lynn opens her eyes, it's eight in the morning, and the other side of the bed is empty. She searches for Francisco with her eyes, but as soon as the water in the shower gets cut off, she turns towards the bathroom.

She yawns, "Morning."

Francisco smiles at Lynn, as he notes how messy her hair is, "Sleep well?"

He doesn't know why he asked that; Lynn typically tosses and turns for over an hour as she tries to get herself comfortable. She's mentioned before how she used to find ways to fall asleep as a kid, but he refuses to let her toss a ball at the ceiling or the wall, especially after she's accidentally hit him too many times.

"Where are you going so early in the morning?"

"To pick up Elena," Francisco says as he struggles to bend over to tie his shoes. Lynn, noticing the pain that he is in, hands him one of his pain pills, "Thanks," he says, before taking the pill. "I'm going to go pick up Elena and then I was thinking that we could go out for breakfast. What do you think?"

"Why can't we have breakfast here?"

Francisco gets up and heads towards the door, "I thought that I would treat you both to breakfast this morning."

"I guess," she says as stretched.

"I'll see you in a bit," Francisco says as he closed the door.

Lynn stays put in bed. She isn't in the mood to leave the house so early in the morning and would much rather have breakfast here. A light bulb went off in Lynn's head and she rushed towards the kitchen. She opened the refrigerator and noticed the lack of breakfast foods.

"Still!? How the heck do you have leftovers when you barely have any food in your fridge?"

Frustrated, Lynn tries to see what she could make, but a handful of chorizo, bacon slices, tortillas, milk and a jar of peanut butter isn't exactly screaming breakfast. Almost ready to give up, Lynn notices that Jackson is returning from his morning walk.

Lynn runs outside, "Hey, Jackson! Do you by any chance have any eggs or something to make breakfast?"

"Good morning, Lynn. I'm doing well, thank you for asking. How are you doing this morning?" Jackson says.

There isn't sarcasm in his voice, but Lynn could tell that he probably doesn't appreciate the first thing coming out of her mouth is to borrow food.

"Sorry…I'm doing fine. I was hoping to make some breakfast for Francisco and Elena. Do you have anything that I could borrow?"

Jackson jumps off of his stilts, and nods, "I think I have some foods I could part with, follow me."

Lynn follows the man, and walks into the house. She looks around at the masks that are hanging on the wall, an indoor fountain, sleds, tribal masks, swords, and from spending so much time gawking at everything, she trips on a lamp cord.

"I have got to get rid of that lamp," he extends his hand out to her, "Are you okay?"

"Yeah, I'm fine," she says as she rubs her head. "Where did you get all of this stuff?"

"Oh, some are from my trips abroad. I used to be a teacher and my travels took me to all sorts of exotic lands."

"Really? I always thought that teachers got paid so little," Lynn says as she pulls out an umbrella while accidentally discharging something into the floor. "What was that?!"

Jackson leads her away from the room, "Nothing, but I prefer that you don't touch anything."

Lynn complies until she sees a drone and is drawn in by the shiny body. She's tempted to play with it, until she sees a strange-looking mouthpiece, "Hey Jackson! You played sports?"

The man walks into the room and sees what she is holding, "Oh yes, I picked that up during my travels by the Indian Ocean, although freediving with the Sama-Bajau earlier that year did help make things easier. Speaking of sports," he starts as he takes the mouthpiece from her, "Have you ever heard of a sport called buzkashi?" Lynn shakes her head, "I'll tell you about it one day. Let's go."

Jackson leads her to the kitchen and grabs a wicket basket from his dining table, "This should be good to carry the food. What would you need?"

Lynn keeps looking around at his house, "I don't know whatever makes a good breakfast, so eggs and flour should be enough."

The man grabs a few of each item, "I'm guessing Francisco still hasn't gotten the hang of having basic food staples in his pantry?"

"No!" she quickly responds, "I mean, how hard is it to do?"

"Well, you have to understand that before you came along, he only had to buy extra food for the weekend, and based on the takeout containers, I'm imagining that he doesn't do it often."

"I guess, but he's going to have to learn. I can't keep asking you to help," she takes the basket, "I promise to bring you the first plate of food."

"Can I make a request then? I've been growing some potatoes in the backyard and I'm hoping for some home fries."

"Consider it done!"

* * *

_As the sun begins to set, Lynn walks through the front door, and is bombarded by the chaos of her house. Everyone is busy and she hopes that she doesn't have to explain why she is late coming home._

_She drags her feet up the stairs and tries her best to ignore everything around her, until her stomach rumbles, "Dang it…"_

_She groans and heads to the kitchen to find some sort of leftovers to snack on until dinner. Lynn sees her dad at the table and she takes a deep breath to keep him figuring out that she's not in the best mood. _

"_Hey LJ, I haven't seen you all day," he tells her._

"_Yeah, I was just outside."_

_Lynn notices that her dad is beginning to doze off; nothing new considering that he did the same thing after each new baby was born._

_He snaps awake, "Oh hey, LJ. When did you get home?"_

_Lynn laughs, "I think you're tired, dad."_

_He yawns, "I know…but I have to wake the baby…she's been so quiet…" he drops his head on the table. Lynn shakes her dad awake, "Where's Lisa?!"_

"_Somewhere, why?"_

_He looks around and checks on the bottle of formula, "I have to make sure that she gets fed."_

"_You mean Lily?"_

_He stops to think about it for a minute before he realizes that he accidentally misnamed his youngest daughter._

_Lynn offers, "Do you want me to feed her?" She notices that her dad is only blinking his eyes and not paying much attention to what she's saying, "I'll take that as a yes."_

_Rita walks into the kitchen after taking a nap, "Hey Lynn, I haven't seen you all day."_

_She shrugs her shoulders, "I was just outside."_

"_Okay," Rita notices her husband falling asleep at the table. "I'll go take him to bed so that he can take a nap. Are you in the mood for takeout for dinner?"_

_Lynn's ears perk up, "Yeah! Can we have pizza?"_

_The bottle warmer dings._

_Rita nods, "Sure, can you do me a favor and feed Lily?"_

_Lynn nods and takes the bottle upstairs. She notices Lana running away with their puppy in her arms and can hear Lola growling from their shared room. As Lynn walks towards her baby sister's room, she glances over at Lola, who is smoothing out the wrinkles in her dress with a menacing stare in her eyes._

_The sixth grader walks into Lily's room, she asks out loud "How the heck do you get a bigger room than me?" She looks into the crib and sees Lily opening her eyes. "Guess what I got? It's your bottle," she tells the infant, who just blinks. "Huh, I was sort of hoping for a little more of a reaction."_

_She shrugs and places the bottle in her sister's mouth, but it quickly falls out. Lily begins to cry and Lynn grabs the bottle and holds it for Lily to drink from._

_Lynn watches the innocent baby continue to drink from her bottle, "You're lucky," she tells the infant, "No one makes fun of you, everyone helps you, and takes care of you, and you get to–" the sound of snoring interrupts her, "That's not you, is it?" She looks around, and follows the sound of the snoring coming from the baby monitor. She looks down at her baby sister, "I guess someone accidentally got them mixed up. I'll fix it later…fix it later…That's it!" she realizes, before losing her idea, "Wait...I lost it. Let's try again. How do you fix it when people are messing with you?"_

_The next day at school, Lynn minds her business and school is going okay for the first few minutes as everyone heads into homeroom._

_A random boy along with a group of his friends notice Lynn and begin their taunts, "Hey, look! It's Farty Mc–"_

_Lynn remembering Lola's menacing eyes grabs him by the collar and slams him against the lockers. She raises him off his feet and forces him to stare at her as she gives him a glare with a fire in her eyes, "Don't call me that!" she demands. "Got it?!"_

_He nervously nods and she drops him. He scrambles to his feet and joins his friends as they run away from her._

_She sighs; it's not the most ideal way to solve her problem, but at least he won't pick on her anymore._

* * *

Francisco steps out of the truck, "So I was thinking we could have breakfast at that bistro that we went to for your graduation. I heard that they serve a good breakfast."

"You want their silver dollar pancakes, don't you?" Elena asks with a knowing smile.

Despite his best attempts, her father is not the best cook and she will gladly take any opportunity for them to eat out instead of suffering through an overcooked and salty meal.

"Maybe," he says, knowing that he's been caught.

As the two step into the house, the smell of pancakes, eggs, and bacon in the air grabs their attention. Both walk towards the source of the smell and see Lynn finishing up some bacon, while chopping potatoes.

"Morning," Lynn says as she walks towards the fridge, despite leaving the cooked bacon on the pan.

Francisco turns the stove off and asks, "Lynn, what are you doing? I told you that we're going out for breakfast."

As Lynn pulls out some orange juice from the fridge, "Well you guys are taking so long I figured that I could make breakfast here."

Francisco looks at his watch, "I was only gone for thirty minutes."

Lynn shrugs her shoulders, "So do either of you want orange juice or did I just squeeze these oranges for nothing?"

Elena pulls out some cups, "Sure, I don't mind having orange juice."

"Great!" Lynn hands her the pitcher, "Here you go. I'm gonna go set the table."

Elena looks at her as she kept going back and forth between the kitchen and the dining room. Francisco tries to steal a slice of bacon, before Lynn steals it from out of his hands. She places the slice of bacon on a plate, before moving back to setting the table, then stopping to take her socks to the laundry basket, only to return to the kitchen before realizing that she forgot to put said socks in the basket.

Elena whispers to her father, "Is she okay?"

Francisco nods. This isn't atypical behavior coming from Lynn, but he could understand his daughter's concern; after all, neither one has spent an extended period of time together since Lucy's wedding.

Francisco pours himself a cup of orange juice and is surprised by how sweet it is, "Lynn, where did you get this orange juice from?"

Lynn stops for a minute as she tries to think about the answer, "I made it using yje oranges you had here, although I think my hand slipped when I added sugar."

"I can believe that," says Francisco as he leaves the cup on the counter to help Lynn set the table, "How about we set the table and you can go change," he offers.

Lynn stops, "What's wrong with what I'm wearing?"

Neither father nor daughter says anything; Lynn still has messy hair and looks like she just rolled out of bed.

"Nothing," says Elena, to end the silence.

Lynn shrugs her shoulders and the two sit down for breakfast. Elena looks over at the spread, unlike other times when she eats at her dad's, it looks better, but the overly sweet orange juice made her wary of the food. Her dad's cooking is already lackluster at best and she is hoping that Lynn is able to cook better than he is.

"Are you just going to leave the chopped potatoes in the bowl?" Francisco asks, as Lynn begins to join them.

"Right! The potatoes! Give me a minute and I'll start making home fries," she tells them as she walks to the bowl.

She prepares the potatoes and starts talking with them, "You know, Francisco; this would be a lot easier if you had better kitchen equipment. I mean, sure you have a blender and toaster and juicer and oven–"

"Lynn, are you just going to name all my kitchen appliances?"

"No, I'm just saying, it wouldn't kill you to have some things that could make things a little easier. Plus, your grocery shopping habits still suck," she tells him as she places the potatoes in the pan. "Although, maybe I'm just complaining too much," she says as she walks towards them and pours herself a glass of orange juice.

Elena warns her, "Shouldn't you stay close by in case they begin to burn."

She gulps the last of the juice in her cup, "Probably."

Lynn paces back and forth as she waits for the home fries to cook, "What the hell is taking so long?!"

Elena whispers to her dad, "It's only been thirty seconds."

"I know; she's like that," he tells her.

He stays quiet and listens to pan, only to realize that no sound was coming from that direction. Francisco gets up and sees what the problem is, "Lynn, you didn't turn on the stove."

"Dang it!" she complains. She turns on the stove and taps her feet as she waits, "C'mon! Hurry up already!"

"It's only been fifteen seconds, give it time," Francisco tells her. "Look, Elena and I are gonna eat some of this food before it gets cold," he says as he takes a plate.

Lynn takes the plate back, "No way! This is for Jackson. He was nice enough to let me borrow this food, and I told him that he's getting the first plate."

She turns over the home fries and once it's finished cooking, she prepares a plate, "Now, you can deliver him the plate before the food gets cold."

Francisco goes along with her request, although he can see what Elena meant by something being off with Lynn. When he returns, there is a plate of food by his seat; he sits down, and the three begin to eat breakfast. Elena takes her first bite and lets out a sigh of relief that it tastes good. The three quietly eat and make some light conversation.

He speaks up tell Lynn, "You can go get changed quickly. We won't steal your food."

"What is your obsession with me getting changed? Besides it can wait."

Elena knows why he wanted her to change; Lynn is wearing one of his T-shirts and a pair of his shorts. She knows him, and he likes to keep people from asking too many questions about his personal life, and while some time has passed, Elena figures that he doesn't want her to bring any more attention that could make it worse.

"You act like you're expecting some tv show to just bust through that front door and film us, it's fine!" Lynn responds before taking another slice of bacon.

* * *

**It's been a while since I've talked to you guys, I haven't really had much to say that would add to any chapter, but I figured that I'd mention a few things, lately I've been going back to the earlier chapters to fix them from past tense to match the current present tense, I've completed some sentences that I apparently forgot to finish, and adding some details, overall, it's nothing huge, just something that I've been wanting to do to make things a little better.I've still got a ways to go, but I'll get there.**

**The call-back to chapter 11****, Lynn being sick, is the same as it was then, obviously, but unlike then, it's less descriptive and I'm not planning on keeping you wondering for long what is/was wrong with her.**

**So give it a guess, and you'll find out one day**

**And as always thanks for reading.**


	27. Babies and Fatherhood

Lynn turns the page on the book; for the last hour she has been trying to understand the instructions, but her hands are not cooperating with her brain or the book; especially if she keeps skipping paragraphs and other important information. Over the years, she's had the opportunity to pick up the skill, but usually a trip to the store was much easier than actually knitting a gift for her sister, but she doubt s that she'll be able to find the gift in black like either of them want.

Francisco walks into the kitchen with some grocery bags in tow, he can see Lynn struggling with something at the table, "Alright, Lynn I got everything on your darn list, now can you help me out? There are some more groceries in the car."

Lynn groans and pushes away the book and knitting needles with yarn before getting up, "I'm coming," she tells him.

Curious about the new hobby that she is taking up, he asks, "What were you doing?"

Lynn, who is in the garage picking up some of the bags and not listening, asks, "What?"

He approaches her, and asks again, "What are you doing with knitting needles and yarn?"

"Raffaelina let me borrow them," she says as she passes him with the groceries.

That doesn't answer his question. As she sets the down the groceries to go back to the garage and get more bags, he approaches the table and sees instructions on how to knit baby booties. Francisco looks towards the garage, surprised that she would take up such a hobby. He picks up the book and looks at the patterns, all of them are baby items, and his mind begins to wander to a possibility.

'_Is she…? Nah! Maybe…It wouldn't be the end of the world, and it is bound to happen, especially considering…' _He shakes his head, _'Granted, it's not the greatest time, especially when it comes to our finances, but it's not impossible, especially with her family and mom around to help. If it's a girl, then the Louds will have baby stuff galore, and if they didn't, then mom will just buy as much as she can like she did with Elena.' _

"Hey! Are you just gonna to stand there? I thought that you needed my help," Lynn says as she snaps him out of his thoughts.

She goes back to get the last few bags, and Francisco walks up to her and asks, "Lynn, are you pregnant?"

Shocked, Lynn drops the bags in her hands, "What?! No! Why would you ask that?"

"Well I saw the designs for the baby booties and I thought…"

"No," she says clearly, "They're for Lucy. We're throwing a baby shower for her and I wanted to make her a present, because I have no idea how easy it's going to be to find black baby booties."

"Oh…never mind then," he says with a blush from embarrassment.

Lynn nervously walks back into the house with the bags in tow. She drops them off on the counter and grabs the knitting materials off of the table, and places them in the bag that she got from Raffaelina. Out of nowhere, after he brought up the subject of a baby, it made her tense, and she desperately hopes that he isn't picking up on it.

* * *

_Francisco opens his eyes as the light in the room turns on. He looks over at Caroline, who is looking over a written note. He makes an attempt at getting up from the bed, when she hears him struggling and walks over to him to gently help him up._

"_How's your back?" she asks. "Is it better than yesterday?"_

_He nods his head in an attempt to tell her that he's doing okay, but his face can't hide the pain. He grabs a pain pill from the nightstand to consume, "I've been better."_

_After an accident at work, Francisco's back has gotten worse and he was put on bed rest by a doctor; with the help of a physical therapist, he has been making strides, but he has spent the last couple of days at home and in pain._

_He looks over at his girlfriend, and notices that she is already dressed for the day, "Are you going out or something?"_

"_I told your mom this morning that I would run some errands that she needed done while she is at work," Caroline tells him, as she brushes her hair._

_He looks at his watch. It's mid-morning and his mom has already gone to work, leaving the couple alone until she gets home._

"_It'll probably be a few hours, so can you watch Elena? It's cold outside, and I don't want her getting sick, plus it'll be much easier to run around doing these errands without worrying about her."_

_Francisco scratches his head, "Yeah, I can handle her."_

_She kisses his cheek, "Her bottles are in the fridge, don't let her go outside without warm clothes on, and she will probably take a nap in a few hours, so she'll be easier to take care of."_

_He smiles, "I can handle it. I promise. Look," Francisco walks over towards Elena's crib, where the infant is turning towards her dad. He rarely spends that much time with her alone, but he can't imagine that it's going to be that difficult. He leans over to pick up the infant, but Caroline notices that he's purposefully resting against the crib to keep himself up._

"_Alright. Just be careful," she warns him before giving him a kiss on the cheek._

"_Is it that hard to believe that I can handle my own daughter?"_

_Caroline shakes her head, "No, I meant be careful that you don't hurt yourself."_

* * *

"Are you serious?" asks Lynn over the phone.

Lily called her sister and let her know that the heater has gone out at home, which is beginning to derail some of the details for the upcoming baby shower.

"Do you think that anyone else can host?"

"_What about your place?"_ asks Lily.

"There is no way that Francisco is going to agree to it, unless I ask him," Lynn says.

"_I meant your apartment."_

"Oh…It's too small. It can't host mom, Lucy's friends and everyone that's visiting from out of town, not unless some people are cool with hanging out in the bathroom."

"_Yeah, I guess nobody's gonna want to do that. Do you think that we'll be able to book a place to host it?"_

"And waste that money?"

"_Well what other bright ideas do you have?"_

Lynn looks around and she thinks about what she said earlier in the conversation. Francisco's place is large enough to host the immediate family and some of Lucy's friends, and it's not like they're going to be hanging around for long, only a few hours at best.

"I guess I can ask Francisco to see if we can use his place."

He hears his name and asks, "Use my place for what?"

"Lucy's baby shower," she answers. "The heater at mom and dad's place busted down and it's freezing in there." A muffled voice sounds off from the phone, Lynn puts it on speaker, "Say that again, Lily."

"_I said that we would really appreciate it, and that Lisa shouldn't have been playing with the heater!"_

"_I was attempting to repair it to help father!"_

Francisco whispers so that Lily can't hear them, "Why can't Lucy host it? Her house is a hell of a lot bigger than mine."

"_Because it's a surprise, and she doesn't know about it."_

Francisco tries to think of another person that can host, but he knows that Lily and Lisa have no place of their own and Lynn's apartment is too small to host all of the sisters, let alone the other guests; how he wished that other Loud siblings still lived in Royal Woods, or at least nearby.

In a defeated voice, he asks, "What day?"

"_Friday, we can do it early in the afternoon and then we'll be out of your hair in a few hours, and I can probably convince Lisa to give you a day off."_

"Thank you, Lily," Lynn tells her little sister before hanging up the phone.

Lynn turns to Francisco, who does not look thrilled about the last minute arrangement, despite agreeing to it. She can see that he is trying to think of everything that he has to do to get the house ready and possibly wonder if he is missing anything.

"I'm letting you and the girls throw the shower here, but I do not, and I repeat, do not want to attend. I don't mind a little trash, but I don't want the house to have broken anything, understood?"

Lynn rolls her eyes, "How badly do you think we're going to behave?"

"I'm just covering my bases."

"And you don't want to come?"

He shakes his head, "No, thank you."

Lynn approaches him and looks him in the eye, "Even if we offer you cake?"

He shakes his head again, "No, but call it payment for using my home as your meeting place."

* * *

_Francisco carries the infant to the living room, "Well, Elena, I can't move around a lot, but I guess that a good thing, since you can't either," he tells the infant. "What can we watch that both of us will like?" he asks as he grabs the remote and takes a seat on the couch._

_He looks down at his daughter and back at the screen; he remembers that aside from sports and homework, his early years were filled with watching tv in his spare time, and while he didn't mind, he should at least not place his daughter down the same way that his parents did._

"_Okay, maybe no tv for a few more years, do you want to play with a ball?"_

_He silently waits for a response, before realizing that she is not going to say anything._

_Francisco sets her down on the floor, and struggles to get up from the couch to walk towards his closet. He figures that there should be something in there that Elena can handle and not hurt herself._

_He spots a wiffle ball and he takes it to clean it now that his daughter has taken the habit of putting things in her mouth. He looks down at the spot where he let her down and notices that she is gone._

_Francisco hears giggling, and he spots her crawling around the couch. He can't remember if Caroline mentioned if their daughter could crawl, but he doubts it, since she probably would have recorded it for him. _

_He pulls out his phone and calls to the still infant, "C'mon Elena. Crawl for the camera."_

_She doesn't move._

_Francisco slowly moves away from her, but only her eyes follow him. He takes the wiffle ball and drops it on the ground, in hopes that the ball will grabs her attention enough to have her crawl towards it, but she still doesn't move. Francisco puts his phone away as he reaches down for the ball and Elena squeals upon seeing him slightly closer to the ground._

"_Oh boy…"_

_He could just wait for a time when there is someone to help him up, but he can't help himself; he's happy to see his daughter reach another milestone. Francisco takes a seat on the couch, and slowly slides off of the couch to get to the floor._

_Francisco bites down on his lower lip in pain, but he figures that it'll be worth it when Elena crawls to him. He rests his arm on the couch to support himself, "Come here, sunshine."_

_She doesn't move._

"_Are you serious?"_

_He sighs; disappointed that she won't crawl. Francisco rolls the ball on the floor, but quickly loses control of it. He tries to reach for it, but the pain in his back is making it difficult to move from his current seated position._

"_On my back or on my front?" he asks himself._

_Francisco decides to reach for the ball with his torso facing down. He drags his body as best as he can to reach the ball, when he hears giggling again._

_He looks over at Elena who looks as though she is going to crawl again. He quickly grabs his phone and makes sure that he captures the moment. The girl crawls towards her dad, who smiles as he records her._

* * *

Lynn buries herself under the blanket. Normally, cold weather wouldn't deter her, but she can't get out from under Francisco's silly tiger blanket. It doesn't even look like it should be able to handle freezing temperatures, but here she is, burying herself under a blanket like a stubborn child that doesn't want to go to school.

"Lynn," Francisco says as he pulls the blanket from her, "Stop it. I'm getting cold."

"Well, turn on the heater. Nothing's stopping you."

"Why? This blanket is perfect at keeping out the cold weather."

He isn't wrong, but rather than pull on the blanket anymore, she rolls over to him and pulls him into a tight embrace, "Better?"

"Much, but we'll have to get out of bed eventually."

"Why?" she whines. "I'm nice and comfortable."

"And the baby shower starts in a few hours," he reminds her. "Besides, didn't you say that Leni was going to be here early in the morning to help with the decorations?"

Lynn sighs. She did say that, but it didn't mean that she wanted to get out of bed to set up. At the moment, there are boxes of decorations in the living room, the snacks are in the kitchen, and the guests are on their way over while Lucy's friends distract her until it's time for the shower; so if Lynn is doing the math right, it should only take less than an hour to set things up.

The doorbell rings.

Francisco smiles and in an obviously sarcastic voice, "I wonder who that is?"

"Zip it," Lynn tells him. "Can you go distract her while I take a shower?"

"Seriously?"

"Please?"

He sighs as he gets out of bed. Lynn takes it as a good sign, and quickly grabs her clothes to take a shower. As Francisco gets to his feet, he can feel his back aching as he tries to move. He grabs and takes a pain pill before slowly dragging his feet to the door.

He opens the door and notices a taxi pulling away from the house, "Good morning, Leni. How are you?"

Leni pulls him in for a hug, "Good morning," she notices the tired look in his eyes. "Are you sick? Here," she says as she pulls out a scarf from her luggage, "take this to get warm."

"Thank you," he tells her, "but I just got up. Come inside, its cold out. Did you catch a red-eye flight?" he asks, as he helps her with her bags.

Leni walks inside and removes her coat, "No, I don't think that airplanes have red eyes, but I think some of the airline staff did. Luckily, I was able to find such an early flight from North Dakota."

"New store opening or just training the staff again?"

After Leni graduated from high school, she began to work at Reinenger's Department Store full-time, eventually grabbing the attention of higher-ups who noticed her warm personality and promoted her to training manager for all of their locations. At the moment, it grants her a lot of opportunities to travel, while teaching other employees her secrets to being a top employee; no wonder, Reinenger's has stayed strong for the last decade.

"Just staff training," Leni looks around the house. Her mind is beginning to work her decorative magic as she plans out how the house will look once she and Lynn place the decorations.

She walks around and Francisco follows her, as if waiting for her to say something to him. He notices that she is not paying attention to where she is going, and he tries to stay ahead of her to keep her from tripping over furniture.

As she moves, Leni goes in a random direction and ends up tripping over one of Lynn's discarded shoes. Francisco manages to grab her before she hits the floor.

Leni looks up at him before scowling, "Francisco! I'm a married woman and I'm not going to let you hurt my little sister."

He doesn't know what she is talking about, but he quickly lets go of her when she is on her feet. Leni continues her look around the room, when she turns around and asks Francisco, "Is Lynn here? I was hoping to catch up and then we can get started before everyone gets here."

Francisco points down the hallway, "I'll go get her," he tells her as he goes to retrieve Lynn, so that the two of them can get started. As he drags his feet down the hallway, he hears footsteps approach him followed by Lynn running past him. She sneaks up behind Leni to give her a hug. The two sisters laugh and begin to catch up.

He leaves the two alone and heads down to the basement; deciding to spend his afternoon cleaning up and far from the guests, however, what he didn't count on was that he didn't have many possessions down there in the first place, and that cleaning up would take less time than anticipated.

As he organizes the boxes by their contents, he spots a box of Christmas lights and decorations. Francisco looks down at his watch; it's almost noon and only a few days into December, "I guess, that's something else to do.

Lynn and Leni set up the decorations, and when he walks upstairs he is taken by surprise by a slew of pink, blue, and black decorations. As Francisco said, he does not plan on participating in the baby shower, and he decided to clean out the basement in an effort to avoid the guests.

"This is an interesting color scheme for a baby shower," Francisco says, surprised by the decorations that Lynn and Leni set up.

"It's Lucy. What did you expect?" Lynn jokes.

"Are you sure that you don't want to join us?" Leni asks, "Lynn said that you just wanted to be alone and not participate."

Lynn shakes her head, "He made it very clear," she clears her throat and in her best Francisco impersonation, "I'm gonna be the only man there, I don't know Lucy's friends, this is more for you, your sisters, and Lucy's lady friends, I'll–" she breaks into a coughing fit. "I'll…be…fine…" she says between coughs.

"Are you trying to copy my voice again?" Francisco asks, as heads into the garage to grab his ladder and tool box.

"Where are you going with that box?" she asks, as she notices the box of Christmas lights.

"The basement wasn't as messy as I thought it was, so I'm going to go put up these lights. I figure since I'm not going to work and everyone is going to be inside, I can get a jump start on decorations."

"Really? You'd rather do that than stay inside and have cake?" Lynn asks, as she tempts him with a pink and blue frosted cake.

Francisco looks at the cake, unfazed, "I'm sure."

He takes the box of lights outside and sets down the materials as he steadies the ladder to head up to the roof. From his locations, he notices the guests as they arrive; each one greeting him, asking what he is doing, and inviting him inside to join them, which he politely rejects each time.

As Francisco hammers away the nails to set up the lights, he notices Vanzilla pulling into the driveway with a blindfolded Lucy. The sisters and other guests get out of the car and begin to lead her to the front door. He doesn't make a single sound until he can hear everyone inside yelling 'surprise', after which, he goes back to work.

He manages to set up some of the colorful lights, and as he gets up, his foot makes contact with a patch of ice and he slips; dropping his tools and box of lights on the ground. Francisco manages to land on a tree, but his weight eventually causes the branch to snap and he falls to the ground.

The women all hear a crashing sound from the roof and run towards the source. They can't see anything from the front window, except for the box of lights and the tree with a pile of snow underneath.

"Do you see anything?" Lori asks.

Leni responds, "I see snow and houses," the sisters all looks at her, "Oh! And there's Francisco stumbling towards the door after his snow nap."

Lisa opens the door, "Potential brother-in-law, do you require medical assistance?"

Rather than answer, he places his arm on door frame and pops his dislocated shoulder back into place, "I'm fine," he says before going back outside.

The women all look at him, stunned that he is planning on going back onto the slippery roof. They grab their coats and follow him, where they spot him by the ladder, rubbing his knee before making another attempt at going up on the roof again. He doesn't notice them, until he feels all of their eyes staring at him.

"What's wrong?"

"You," Lola responds. "You plan on going back on that icy roof?"

Lana asks, "What if you fall again?"

"Or slip off the roof again?" asks Leni.

"I'll be fine," he tries to assure them, but none of them are taking the response and they take his arms to lead him back inside. "What are you doing?"

"We're doing this for your own good," says Lori.

The group of women surround him and sit him down in a chair and put a slice of cake in front of him.

* * *

_Francisco watches his daughter crawl around from the floor. Every few minutes, she would stop look at him, crawl to him, and then crawl away after he brought her in for a hug. He looks at the time, and decides that it she should have something to eat. He calls the girl with open arms and she crawls to him, but unlike the other times, Francisco keeps her in his arms and tries his best to get to his knees and place her on the couch._

_With the infant seated, he makes strained attempts to get up, but each time he feels the intense pain overtake him, "Damn back…damn physical therapist…damn idea to get on the floor…"_

_After cursing everything that caused his back pain, "Francisco takes a deep breath and gets off of the floor with all his might. Once he's on his feet, he lays on the couch, "Okay…no more floor exercises…at least…until someone else is home…"_

_Francisco hears the mailbox creak open and close. The mailman passes by the window, "I better go get those." He looks down at the girl and then looks at the snow outside. Caroline told him not to let her outside without something warm to cover her. _

"_I don't know where your winter clothes are, but I know where my jacket is, so we can do this and you can see the snow today. What do you say?"_

_She doesn't respond._

"_Right, I have to remember that you aren't going to say anything," he says to himself._

_Francisco grabs her and heads to the closet by front door and grabs his coat. He loosely places it around his shoulders and keeps Elena tightly in his arms, as the two head outside. He grabs the mail, and he shows her the snowy street, "I can't wait until we can play outside," he tells her._

_He looks down and feels her burying herself in shirt. He smiles and gives her a little kiss on her head, before heading inside. Francisco grabs a tissue and blows his nose as he feels trickle down his nose, "Oh good, no blood."_

_He sets down the letters, and takes off his jacket, when he notices, a spot of blood on his shirt. He looks at Elena, who has blood on her face and on her clothes. Francisco chuckles, "Guess we have another bleeder in the family. You can blame your grandpa, he gave it to me and your uncles," he tells her. _

_Elena coos at him and he smiles, as he takes her to get out of the bloody shirt, "If your mom asks, you threw up on your shirt, got it?" he winked at her._

_Saying that reminded Francisco that he hasn't fed the infant. After getting her changed, he heads to the fridge and grabs a bottle for her to drink, "Do I warm this up?" he asks her. "Probably."_

_He places the bottle in the bottle warmer, and he sets her down on her high chair and as they wait for the bottle, he decides to play with Elena._

_He covers his eyes, "Where's daddy?" he asks. "Peek-a-boo!"_

_Elena giggles, and he tries again, each successive time changing it up by either sneaking up from under her high chair, covering only his eyes, or covering his face with a kitchen towel; and each time she enjoys her dad's little antic. _

* * *

Francisco stares at the wall as he fiddles around with the plastic pacifier around his neck. He told Lynn that he didn't want to attend, because he knew that he wouldn't find much enjoyment out of a baby shower with nearly twenty other women. Every time he tries to leave, he can feel their eyes on him, and he won't leave; it's made worse by the Loud sisters' puppy-dog eye routine.

Rita takes a seat next to him, "Are you okay? Does your shoulder still hurt after that tumble off the roof?"

"It's fine. Just didn't expect to spend my afternoon attending a baby shower."

"Have you ever been to one?"

He shakes his head. Growing up, he heard his mom mention attending them, but she never actually told him what went down at a baby shower; even when Caroline had one, he never attended either. As he looks around at the living room, he notes the guests eating snacks snacking, talking, and playing a few games.

"I don't think that it ever crossed my mom's mind, although maybe if I was really little she might have brought me along."

"Well we're glad to have you join us."

Lily shows up in front of Francisco and Rita, and presents to him a hangar with a bunch of clothespins attached, "How many can you get with one hand, Francisco?"

Rita places a hand on his shoulder, "Try and make the best of it. You might even have a little fun."

He sighs and complies with both women. He starts unclasping the clothespins and Lily counts along with each one he keeps in his hand until all of them fall to the floor, "Alright, Francisco's the new lead with twenty-nine," Lily announces to the others.

"No fair! He's got a bigger hand than all of us!"

"You're really got to _hand_ it to him," Luan jokes.

The others groan at the joke.

"Francisco! We've got another game," calls out Luan, "Do you want to play?"

He doesn't, but he figures that if she goes along then maybe everything can go a little faster. He tries to get up, but his struggles to do so. Rita calls out to Lynn, who asks, "Do you need your medicine?"

Francisco nods his head, "Yeah…I think I forgot to take it this morning."

"Alright, just give me a minute and then we can go back to playing games," she says excitedly.

The next few hours go as Francisco saw before Rita began chatting with him. Yes, managed to win a few games, even if Lynn jokingly tells him that he has an unfair advantage in some, but he tries to make the best of the situation for everyone else's sake.

"Alright everyone!" Lynn calls, "Time for cake!"

The guests surround the dining table and Lynn begins cutting slices of cake and Francisco helps her by handing out slices of cake to everyone.

Rita takes a seat next to her daughter, "How's our new little addition to the family doing so far?"

"Not bad, sigh…"

Leni asks, "What's wrong, Lucy? Are you nervous about the baby?"

"A little, but I think that Rocky is getting more anxious with each doctor's appointment."

"Trust me, Lucy. You're both going to be fine," Francisco speaks up, "Right now, he probably has all these thoughts running through his head, and believe me I've had my fair share. I mean, the women do all the work and we have plenty of time to think, 'Am I going to relate to him?' 'Will I be a good father to him?' and 'What if he turns out to be a she?'."

The guests laugh.

"All that ran through your head?" asks Lucy.

"There was more, but it's not like you're the only couple to have these thoughts running through your heads. And I know it's stressful, but sooner or later, you're going to have that little baby in your arms and I think that you and Rocky will be fine."

The words comfort Lucy. For the last couple of months, she kept thinking about how different her life is going to be, and she may not be ready for motherhood at such a young age; but hearing those words eased her fears a bit.

"Even when they're little," Francisco continues, "you'll find something you have in common with your kid. Heck, when Elena was a baby we had so much in common; we liked eating on time, a nap in the afternoon, and good game of peek-a-boo."

Everyone laughs.

Rita places a hand on her daughter's shoulder, "And you'll always have your friends and family to help you with our little…" she strays, hoping that Lucy will reveal if she is having a boy or a girl.

"Boy and girl," Lucy finishes.

The sisters squeal in delight and Francisco and Lucy's friends cover their ears at the shocking sounds. Everyone offers their congratulations to the mother to be.

When the shower is over and the guests gone, Lynn and Francisco begin to clean up the decorations; luckily, they kept it neat, except for the confetti and glitter that Lola insisted on.

"I've got a few more hours until I have to pick Elena up from her piano lessons, do you want to go out to eat later?"

"Why? We've got plenty of food," Lynn says. "I left some cake and snacks for you and Elena in the fridge."

He chuckles, "Lynn, I meant something more substantial than cake and chips. C'mon, it's my treat."

Lynn looks over at him; after an afternoon of junk food, it does sound nice to be able to sit down, go out and eat something better than sugary snacks, "Deal! And I promise to not take advantage of your generosity."

He doubts that she won't try; Lynn is a sucker for good food, no matter the cost.

As they continue to clean, she speaks up, "You know, I didn't know that that sort of stuff ran through a guy's head when he finds out that he's going to be a dad, or maybe it was more like it never crossed my mind."

He smiles, "I don't think that it ever crossed your mind."

"Yeah, probably," she says. Then she begins to wonder, "So what would go through your mind if instead of one kid you ended up with twins?"

"I probably would have been shocked at the news, but the ideas are still the same. Although, if one of the twins was a boy, I'd probably understand him a little more than Elena."

"That difficult to understand her?"

"She's getting older. It's bound to happen, it still hurts, you know," he says, a little sad that Elena is getting to the age where it's normal for her to want more independence.

"Well, you're still young, you can have another kid and even after a few mishaps," she tells him in a nonchalant way.

Francisco raises an eyebrow, "A few mishaps? Like what? A miscarriage? I didn't know you liked dark humor, Lynn." He notices her looking away. "Lynn…what are you trying to tell me?"

She scoffs, "Nothing. It was just a hypothetical," her eyes shift.

"Lynn, tell me the truth. What are you trying to tell me?" he asks again.

She sighs after being found out. She shakes her head back and forth, as if trying to get the words out of her mouth, "It's happened before."

"I'm sorry, what?" He wants to be sure that he understands her correctly. "A miscarriage?"

She nods.

Francisco notices her looking away from him; he doubts that she would joke about such a thing, but he almost can't believe it, "Lynn…Wh-When did that happen?

"When I was sick this summer."

"So months ago? Are you serious? Why didn't you tell me?!" he asks, clearly upset that she never mentioned it once.

"You weren't exactly in a good place around that the time, remember? I figured that you didn't need to stress yourself out about something out of your control and make yourself upset about what could have been."

He begins to take deep breaths, "Lynn, no matter what the hell you thought, that doesn't mean that I shouldn't have known! It involved the two of us, and it didn't once cross your mind that maybe I should have known?!"

"That's why I'm bringing it up now!'"

"I would have preferred to have known when it happened!"

"Fine! They were both in July!"

He opens his mouth when she says that, "Both?" he whispers, "This happened before? When was the first time?"

Lynn stares at him, "It was after we got back together."

Francisco sets down the trash and walks away from her. He needs to clear his head and think about everything that she just told him. He can't believe that she kept that from him twice. He would have understood if it was only a few days ago, but months, years without telling him, is too much for him to emotionally take in. He pulls out his truck keys and drives away.

* * *

_Francisco rocks the freshly-changed Elena on his lap. The last couple of hours have been going well except for the bloody nose incident and getting stuck on the floor for a little longer than anticipated, but he admits that both incidents are his own fault._

_He picks up her stuffed sheep and bounces it around in front of her, "Are you getting anything from this?" he asks._

_Elena looks up and blinks._

"_Yeah, I thought so…" he doesn't know what to say, and instead he continues to play with the toy._

_The infant reaches out for the toy and Francisco hands it to her. Once she has the toy in her possession, she stuffs one of the legs in her mouth and drools all over it. Francisco makes a light attempt at taking the toy from her, but she holds on tightly to her little sheep._

_He chuckles, "I can't blame you. It's your favorite toy."_

_Francisco rests his back on the couch and he places his daughter on his chest, but she squirms, "I thought that you would want a nap? It's getting late, you know." The girl blinks and smiles at her dad, "Right. You can't tell time yet. When you go to school, then you'll learn."_

_Elena bops Francisco's head with her sheep and she giggles when Francisco pretends to be hurt by her 'attack'._

_He rests his feet on the edge of the couch, squares his knees, and places Elena on his shins as he begins to rock her in hopes of getting her to fall asleep. For the first few minutes, she seems to be enjoying the ride with a smile on her face, before Francisco notices the look on her face. He stops rocking her, but it's too late and Elena throws up her lunch on her dad's lap._

"_Okay, I deserve that," he sighs, as he takes her in his arms. "I wish that it wasn't in such an unfortunate spot, but now we're both getting new outfits before your mom gets home."_

_Francisco takes Elena to his bedroom to change out of his pants. As he sets her down on the bed, he can hear her yawn, "Are you tired? Alright, let me get you to your crib," he tells her._

_She becomes fussy in his arms, "I know that you don't want to nap, but it's time for you to get your rest," he yawns. "See? Even daddy needs a nap," he tells her as he sets her down in the crib._

_Elena begins to cry, and Francisco picks her up to rock her to sleep. She begins to settle down, and Francisco makes another attempt at placing her in her crib, but once again, she cries._

"_You have to go to sleep," he tells her. "Trust me, when you're older you'll beg for a nap."_

_She snuggles up against his shirt, and he sighs. He takes a seat on his bed, rests against his pillows and watches her as rocks her, "Sorry I can't sing to you, but trust me you're better off," he jokes._

_Elena's eyelids begin to get heavier and she closes her eyes to fall asleep._

_Francisco tries to move, but Elena squirms. He immediately stops and so does she, "Alright, you win, but only because I love you so much."_

* * *

Elena opens the door to the truck, and notices her dad staring at the windshield as he greets her. She buckles up, and he begins his drive. During his usual pick-up days, she knows that he's not the most talkative person out there, but the silence is beginning to bother her.

"Are you okay, dad?"

He nods his head, "Yeah…" he quietly says.

She doesn't believe him. She remembers that same look on his face when he apologized to her for not telling her about his relationship with Lynn and she knows that he's holding back something internally.

When they arrive home, Elena walks up to the door, and notices him grabbing a bag out of the back seat. The look on her dad's face is still the same, and she opens her mouth to ask him what's bothering him, but before he could say anything, he says, "Can you give me and Lynn a few minutes of privacy please?"

He opens the door, and Lynn greets them as if she never brought up anything. She looks at Elena, "There's some snacks and cake in the fridge if you want any."

Elena looks up at her dad, and notices the serious look in his eye as he stares at Lynn, "I will. I'll probably get some after I study," she lied.

Francisco takes a seat on the couch. Lynn's eyes turn towards the girl, who is walking towards her room, and she looks back at Francisco, who seated with a bag in tow. He opens the bag and reveals two little stuffed animals – a horse and what Lynn assumed to be a lioness or maybe a puma, however it could be a cougar; not that she has been to the zoo recently to know the difference.

He interrupts her thoughts, "I was looking through some articles on my phone and–"

Lynn knows what he may be trying to do and she tries to deflect, "Are they for you?"

"No, they're for you. I don't know, maybe holding something can help you let go or not be upset," he sighs. The whole time, he was mad that she didn't mention anything to him, but forgot about how she went through this ordeal alone without anyone around to help her. Once he calmed down a bit, he began some research on some ways to comfort someone in the aftermath.

He hands her a toy, but she doesn't take it, "I'm fine. I got over it years, months, whatever ago," she tells him in an effort to remind him that she is fine.

"Good for you," he says under his breath.

"Look. I get that you're mad. Go ahead, be mad. Think the worst of me, because I don't have a good enough reason for what happened," she loudly tells him

He takes the toy back, "Fine!" Francisco says getting up from the couch. "Forget it!"

Lynn sighs. He isn't going to get over it overnight, and rather than make him look at her and have a constant reminder of what she did; she decides to go home.

Elena hears Dutch from her room. She steps out and she notices that Lynn is gone and her dad is angrily making a sandwich, "What happened?"

Francisco looks up and tries to calm his angered movements, "Nothing, Lynn just needed to go to her apartment."

She knows that he's lying. For the last couple of months, Lynn has been around visiting more often and the women's clothes in the laundry hamper confirm that she's been spending the night as well. She doubts that Lynn really needs to go home, but she can see that her dad is going back to angrily making his sandwich, and she knows that she needs to tread lightly.

"Do you want me to make you one?" he says with a strain in his voice.

Elena shakes her head, "Its fine I can make one." She looks in the fridge and sees the pink and blue frosted cake. The eleven-year-old doubts that he would make such a cake, but after noticing bits of confetti on the ground and a pacifier necklace, she figures out that there was a baby shower earlier in the day. She takes a seat next to her dad, who is silently playing with the horse's mane.

"Bucky?" she asks, assuming the horse's name.

He chuckles a bit, and goes back to playing with the toy, "You know, when you were a baby, I used to do this with your little sheep. I don't remember if you liked it or not, but…"

He drifts off, and Elena tries to get him back on track, "I think I remember that sheep," she lied; she doesn't know what he was talking about. "Did I take it around a lot?"

"Only until your abuela threw it away; I can't remember if it was because it was too dirty or you left it on the floor."

That was usually Alicia's reason for throwing out anything of his growing up, she always said that it was because it looked like he didn't care about the toy, but he can imagine that it was really about him being messy as a little boy.

"That's a shame."

"I think I have a video of it in the cloud. I'll look for it later, and you can see how cute you were with your little chubby cheeks," he teases.

"Dad," she groans in embarrassment at hearing that, despite looking forward to seeing the video.

Later that evening, Francisco gets into bed. His back is aching after all of the day's tension; he grabs a pill and hopes to at least numb the physical pain until he can fall asleep. He's all alone in the bed, and he's relieved that he doesn't have to worry about seeing Lynn after what she said.

He looks over at the little stuffed animals that he bought, grabs the horse, and falls asleep with it in his arms.

* * *

**Can you believe that it's almost Christmas again in the story? That's what happens, when I make the original story had far fewer chapters and needed a rewrite to make longer than intended and make it somewhat more believable, especially since I originally planned for this to only go for around 12-15 chapters, so I really went past that.**

**Anyway, did you actually expect that that was what Lynn was hiding? Maybe, I wasn't exactly descriptive before, so I might have missed some key clues, but I love revealing things a little slower than necessary, plus the mystery is more fun (to me at least), but don't think that that's the only thing being kept in the shadows.**

**Thank you readers, until next time.**


	28. Emotions and the Great Outdoors

Lynn paces back and forth in front of Francisco's door. It's been a week since they've talked, and she's had plenty of time to think of what sheis going to say, but she knows that as soon as she sees his face, she might forget what to say or he might have really good rebuttals.

"You can do this, Loud," she tells herself. "You've had a week to think and he's had one to calm down and take a can be adults about this."

Lynn is about to knock on the door, when Francisco opens the door. He is surprised that she is right in front of him, especially after not seeing her in the last few days.

"I'm sorry, but I have to go," he tells her. "I ran out of my pills and I have to get more."

"Wait! I need to tell you something and I have to do it now," she tells him as she pulls on his arm to keep him from walking away.

Francisco lets out an exasperated sigh; he needs to get going, his back is in pain and he's been enduring it for a few days now. He taps his foot rapidly, he doesn't know how long this is going to take, but he imagines that Lynn wants to talk about keeping the miscarriages from him, and he doubts that she's going to do so quickly.

"Look, I get that you're probably still mad–"

"Not really," he says as he tightly grips his keys in his hands. "Lynn, I've had some time to think about it…and while I am upset," he starts his rambling, "I've decided that right now…it can wait about an hour before we talk about it. Got it? Great!"

Lynn is surprised by his behavior, "No, not great. As much as I don't want to talk either, we need to talk and get this out in the air."

Francisco looks over at his truck as he leans against the house; waiting for what she needs to say. Despite the cold, Francisco can feel a bead of sweat trickle down his neck as he stares at Lynn with half-opened eyes.

"I know that you're mad," she slowly starts. "Hell I probably would be too, but that's not the point," she stops herself before running her train of thought down the wrong path. "I've done some thinking and I wish that I had a better excuse for why I did what I did, but–"

"I don't want to hear excuses, Lynn; I just wanted to know the reason–"

"Fine, the _reason_ I didn't tell you was…was because I don't know, didn't know, how to say it. I mean, you know that I'm not good at talking about all that emotional stuff and it seemed easier to not say a thing than actually, you know, saying something, but that's a crummy excuse, uh, I mean, reason."

Francisco nods as she continues to speak; it's not a secret that Lynn struggles to talk about emotional topics, especially if she is the one going through it. More often than not, it was up to someone else to bring it out of her, but rather than keep this uncomfortable conversation going on, Francisco raises his hand to stop her.

"Yes, I understand. I'm…" he looks at the truck, "I mean, I've had um…some time to think, and," he passes his thumb over the teeth of his keys,"You are sorry. So, I'm going to trust you, but please don't…" he slowly steps away from her and towards the truck. "Yeah…"

Lynn doesn't trust his half-hearted response, "Are you listening to me?" she asks as she follow doesn't turn around and steps into his truck; she knocks on the window, "What the hell is wrong with you? I think you'll survive if you don't reach the pharmacy tonight."

Francisco lowers the window, and with an agitated tone, responds, "Lynn, I told you that I forgive you. I'm not gonna hold onto this forever, but I need to get my pills. It took a while to get the prescription, so please…let me go before it gets too late."

She stares into his tired eyes and sees the pain that he's holding back before she takes a step back, and watches him drive away.

Lynn notices that he left the front door open. Deciding that he'll probably be more attentive once he gets his medicine, she walks into the house and is surprised by the heat, "Look at that, he does know how to turn on the heater."

* * *

_Albert hands his grandson three hunting permits, "What do you think, kiddo? We could make a weekend of it, you could invite your little friend Clyde, and we can have a boys' weekend out in nature. What do you say?"_

_Lincoln stares at the permits. He isn't the type to enjoy outdoor sports, nor those words individually, and while he loves his Pop-Pop's idea for a weekend with two of his favorite people, he isn't interested in hunting or camping at all._

"_I'd love to, but um…I don't think Clyde would be able to. You remember what I told you about his overprotective dads and I'm sure that they wouldn't like the idea of Clyde going hunting, and I've got a lot of homework to do, but what about…" Lincoln struggles to finish that sentence, when Lynn walks in. He wraps his arm around his sister's shoulders, "I bet Lynn would like to give the _sport_ of hunting a try, right Lynn?"_

_The older sister is confused by her brother, who just handed her a hunting permit. She just walked in the house after playing basketball in park and is trying to mentally catch up to what Lincoln is talking about, "Uh…sure?"_

_To Lynn, hunting doesn't seem like a sport that she would normally take part in; it's quieter, there's less in-your-face action, and chances are she's going to be waiting forever for a deer, or, an elk, or a moose, or whatever Pop-Pop is taking them to hunt. However,she figures that it doesn't hurt to try, especially since Pop-Pop went through all the trouble of getting the permits._

_Albert is a little disappointed that Lincoln isn't interested in the trip, but rather than let his grandchildren know, he turns to Lynn and makes her the same offer,which she happily accepts. It isn't often that she gets one-on-one time with her Pop-Pop and she doesn't want to miss it._

_Lynn counts the three permits, "What do we do with the extra one?"_

"_I'm not sure, I guess you could invite one of your friends, if you'd like."_

_She thinks about it; she isn't sure if any of her friends would want to go hunting or would be free to go, so she hands the permit back to Pop-Pop, "I don't think I know anyone who does, but we can go out and have fun together, just the two of us!" she happily declares._

_Albert nods his head, "Alright, let me catch you up on what we'll do this weekend."_

_Lincoln looks over at his grandpa and sister as she happily takes in all the information that Pop-Pop is telling her about the trip. He sighs, and he heads upstairs to his room._

* * *

Lynn opens the front door of Francisco's house. She spots him reading the newspaper in the living room, and she runs over to him to give him the great news. After their talk a few months ago, Lynn has been racking at her brain to think of the best way to earn his forgiveness; despite how many times he claims that he's over it.

She takes a seat next to him and leans in close to his face; he looks up to meet her eyes and with a coy smile asks, "Did you finally learn to leave my spare key in its hiding spot?"

She taps her pockets, "I'll get to it."

"Just keep the key, its better in the long run," he says as he goes back to the sports section.

Lynn presses down on the newspaper, "Remember how I said that I was going to make it up to you?" He vaguely remembered, "Well, I thought that maybe we can, wait. Elena should hear this too." Lynn goes off to search for the girl, "I was thinking that we could go on a camping trip, just the three of us. What do you say?" she tells the two.

"A what?" Francisco asks to clarify.

"A camping trip. You mentioned that you haven't gone on one, and I remember that you've always wanted to go, so what do you say?"

He has wanted to go camping for years, before he couldn't due to work and other responsibilities getting in the way, but now he can't imagine how difficult it would be to sleep on the hard ground these days.

"You could have made it up to me by getting that sauce recipe from Raffaelina or at least a few jars," he suggests.

Lynn shakes her head, "She doesn't tell me how to make that stuff and she's not going to give me a buncha jars just because we're both craving it. Besides, I need to do this with a gift that I can give you."

"What about work? You just got a new job."

"We'll go on a weekend."

"And me?" Elena asks.

"You can come."

"I thought that you hated camping."

"I admit that I'm not a fan, but I'm willing to do this for you, Francisco."

"But dad and I have never really been outside of the city."

"Why are you both making excuses? I'm trying to do something nice for us and neither of you want to do this? I figured that it would be better than hanging around here doing nothing, and it's not like you can't rearrange next week's plans."

Francisco repeats, "Next week? You want us to go camping next week?"

"Yeah, it's spring next week."

"That doesn't mean that it can't rain."

"I don't think that it'll rain on the other side of the state. C'mon we should enjoy ourselves, not too hot, not too cold, and I'm pretty sure that we won't have to worry about mosquitoes yet, besides I thought that you really wanted to do this, and it's not like you haven't roughed it a bit before as a kid."

"Visiting my grandparents' house isn't really roughing it if I still had tv and electricity."

Lynn is getting sick of the excuses, "Look, I'm trying to do something nice for you, if you don't want to do it, just say it."

Francisco sighs, "I do want to go. I just don't want to turn the trip into me hurting myself because of my injury."

Lynn begins to lightly laugh. She can't believe that that is his excuse. She knows that he sometimes finds ways to go to the worst case scenario, but he is just being silly, "Don't worry your pretty little head, we can get a cot, or an inflatable mattress, maybe a walking stick to go hiking, or some fishing gear, and get one of those giant s'mores sticks, but with lots of chocolate, you like chocolate, right Elena?"

The girl nods. Both she and Francisco listen to Lynn as she continues to name potential camping activities that they can partake of next week, and both wondering when she'll stop talking.

* * *

_The alarm on Lynn's phone goes off. She groans and turns it off in an effort to get a few more minutes of sleep, but she quickly remembers that it's Saturday and today is the day of her hunting trip with Pop-Pop. She gets out of bed and yawns before shenotices how dark the room is; Pop-Pop mentioned that he is planning on picking her up at around five in the morning so that they can beat traffic._

_She drags her feet to the closet and grabs her backpack and sleeping bag. Lynn quietly grabs her clothes so that she can get changed after a shower. Lynn opens the door and tiptoes down the hallway to the bathroom, where the sound of the shower takes her by surprise. She doesn't expect anyone to be up this early on a Saturday, so she knocks on the door, and hears Lincoln tell her that the bathroom is occupied from the shower._

_Lynn knocks louder on the door to grab his attention, but is interrupted by Luna, who silently glares at her younger, "Dude, it is too early in the morning for you to be banging on the door like that."_

_Lynn scowls back, "I'm going on that hunting trip with Pop-Pop, remember? I need to use the shower, but someone is taking too long!" she yells at the bathroom._

_More sisters begin emerging from their rooms, mumbling at Lynn to keep quiet. Lincoln steps out of the shower and sees his sisters focusing on Lynn. He quietly steps around his older sister and heads to his room._

_Lynn notices him, "What are you doing taking a shower so early, Stinkoln?"_

_Lincoln stops in his tracks and turns around, "I was taking a shower before Pop-Pop gets here."_

"_Why? You're not going on this hunting trip."_

"_Well, Pop-Pop looked sad that I wasn't going since he offered the trip and I said no, so I called him and told him that I changed my mind."_

_Lynn frowned, "Oh…well okay then, I'll try to be out in a bit."_

_Both siblings turn around to finish getting ready, while the other sisters head back to their bedrooms. Lynn is surprised that Lincoln changed his mind, especially after he already told Pop-Pop that he couldn't go on the trip, but she tries not to dwell; he probably won't be interested in the actual hunt._

_After getting ready, the brother and sister wait outside by the steps for their Pop-Pop to arrive. Lincoln is beginning to doze off after waking up so early, meanwhile, Lynn runs towards the street and looks in both directions to see if she can see her grandfather's car, but she can't see the vehicle._

_Lynn heads back towards her sleeping brother. She yawns; she was so excited for today's trip that she couldn't sleep well, and now she wishes that she could be like her brother, and sleep without worrying about the sound of the wind, the crunching of the leaves, or the insects keeping her up._

_Albert pulls into the driveway and Lynn jumps up from the steps and heads over to the car to greet her Pop-Pop, who notices her sleeping brother, "Guess he's still tired?" he laughs. Albert turns to Lynn, and whispers, "Can you help me load your gear into the car? I'm gonnasurprise your brother," he says, giving her a wink._

_Lynn is about to loudly agree, but she closes her mouth as she watches Pop-Pop surprise Lincoln awake. The boy is startled awake and Lynn and Albert laugh at the 'prank'._

"_C'mon Lincoln, you can sleep on the way over to the campsite."_

_Lincoln mumbles as his grandpa leads him to his car._

_With the three seated in the car, Lynn looks over excitedly at Pop-Pop, ready to talk to him about their weekend plans. While Albert takes joy in Lynn's excitement, he points at Lincoln, who is sleeping._

"_We can talk when we get there, okay?" he whispers._

* * *

Elena takes a seat outside as she watches her dad and Lynn get their last-minute packing she has never gone camping before, it has never been an activity that she's ever wanted to try, but for her dad's sake, she's willing to do so.

"Good morning, preteen De Los Reyes," says Jackson as he steps out of his house ready to do some gardening.

"Good morning, Jackson," she says absent-mindedly as she would look inside of the house.

He notices the girl dressed for the camping trip that Francisco mentioned earlier in the week, but the look on her face told him that she is worried about something, "Are you doing okay? Are you nervous to go camping with your dad and Lynn?"

Based on what the neighbor has noticed, Lynn hasn't been around when Elena is visiting, and now the two are going to spend a larger than normal time together as they rough it in nature.

"I don't know. I mean, I like Lynn, but it's not like we spend a whole lot of time together. From the few moments we do spend together, it seems like we don't have a lot in common. We both like chocolate and then after that it seems like she's my dad, but louder and more in-your-face."

Jackson listens and asks, "Well, I can see how that can be concerning, but tell me this, do you have a lot in common with your stepfather?"

Elena thinks about it; she doesn't. She and Andrew do have some things in common, like an interest in music and books, but they are also different in regards to him enjoying outdoor activities and being very particular about things being in order.

"Not everything," she responds. "But, I spend so much time with him compared to Lynn. I just don't want this trip to turn into something awkward just because the two of us are so different."

Jackson nods, and looks inside of the house. He sees Francisco playfully teasing Lynn as she takes her bag into the garage, and she is making a snarky remark back at him, "So you don't see them together often, right?"

Elena shakes her head, "No, but only because Lynn insists on not interfering when dad and I spending time on the weekends. Honestly, I'm not even sure if I'm relieved or afraid that she won't spend time with me."

"I think she's just nervous. Before she and Francisco got together, you both already knew each other and had some sort of relationship, but now that relationship is different, and she has an opportunity to be closer, but she doesn't know how to proceed. After all, there is a chance that she could be in your life longer than you think."

Elena thinks about what Jackson said, he was right, both of them have been dating for a few years now, and there is a possibility of Lynn being her stepmother. She watches the couple and seesthe smile on her face as she takes her things into the garage and sees her dad keep looking at her as she walks away.

"Probably…thanks for the talk, Jackson," she says as she walks into the house.

Francisco notices Elena walking through the door, "Ready to go?"

Lynn passes behind him, "Yeah, I'm ready."

"I meant Elena."

"Yeah, let's go."

The three get into the truck. Francisco sets up his GPS, Elena looks out the window as she looks out at the houses, and Lynn begins to fiddle with the radio as she triesto find a station that she likes, "Classic? Nope. Rock? Meh. Country?" she shudders as she keeps changing stations.

"Can you pick a station already?" Francisco asks, annoyed that Lynn keeps changing the stations after less than two seconds of listening.

"I'm trying to find something more entertaining than whatever this is," she retorts.

"_The National Weather Service is advising that all drivers–"_

"Boring," Lynn says before changing it again.

"Put it back, that could have been useful."

"Yeah, right. Besides, it's not like we can't get any news on our phones."

"In the middle of nowhere, you expect your phone to work?"

"Yes. Now, let me try and find a station we can all listen to and enjoy."

Elena watches from the back seat, compared to her mom and Andrew who are more civil in their disagreements, her dad and Lynn didn't mind arguing a bit with each other, Elena figures that this was how they behaved as kids, and they just couldn't shake their old habits.

She grabs a pair of headphones from the backpack next to her and hands them to Lynn, "Here, you can use them to listen to whatever you want on your phone."

"What? Don't be silly, we'll find something we all like soon enough."

"Before or after you go through all the stations again?" Francisco asks sarcastically.

Lynn is about to say something, but Elena speaks up first, "I'm sure that we can find a good station, but can you give us a few more seconds to listen before we change it?" she asks the woman.

"Sure, I can do that."

Elena sighs in relief and goes back to staring out the window.

* * *

_With the campsite set up, Lynn looks around the wooded area to see where they might start. She hears snoring coming from the tents and sees both her brother and grandpa napping after the car ride and setting up the tents._

"_Seriously?" she asks out loud. She shakes Pop-Pop's shoulder, "Pop-Pop. Pop-Pop. Wake up."_

_He turns towards her and opens his eye, "What time is it?"_

"_I don't know, aren't we going to go hunting?" she asks excitedly._

_Albert looks at his watch, it's still morning and they have some time to scout the deer, although the deer that he and Lynn want to scope out won't come out until later in the day, so the three have plenty of time to spend together._

"_How about we wait? You said that you wanted to find a buck and those come out after the sun sets. Besides, this is a good opportunity for me to make sure that you both remember what I taught you."_

_Over the years, Albert has recounted his hunting trips to his grandchildren, but it never hurts to review the fundamentals especially when Lincoln is so jumpy and Lynn is so brash. He proceeds to take out the weapon and thoroughly ensure that they are safe; luckily, with Lynn treating their time outdoors as a sport, she's able to maintain her full attention and take it seriously, Lincoln, however, is a different story. _

_Lynn looks over at her brother and grandpa, as the older man explains to his grandson the proper way to hold the gun and how to shoot. Lincoln is visibly nervous, the only guns he's ever held were made of plastic and shoot out lights towards a screen, so Pop-Pop has his work cut out for him. Meanwhile Lynn doesn't need extra instruction; she is able to pick up the weapon with ease and without fear._

"_Alright, now always treat the gun as if it's loaded," Albert instructs his grandson._

_Lynn groans; the two have been going over the same lessons for far too long, and Albert can sense the frustration in his granddaughter and he assures her, "We'll be done soon, and then we can go."_

_She nods her head. Lynn continues to listen to the two talking, but she quickly asks again when they can go._

"_Lynn, you have to be more patient, and I want to be sure that your brother is being safe."_

_She groans, "You've been going over everything for so long, I think he's got it."_

"_Kiddo, be patient. This isn't something you can rush. "_

_Lynn mutters under her breath, "This would be so much easier is he didn't come like he wanted."_

_Lincoln looks over at his sister with a scowl on his face. He heard what she said, but decided not to push back against his sister. The lesson continued, but soon the conversation turned to fondly recalling other times that they've hung out. Usually, their mom took Lincoln to visit Pop-Pop once a month, but lately Lincoln has been taking his bike to visit him on his own. _

"_That sure was a fun afternoon," Albert laughs, as he recalls their last hangout._

"_Pop-Pop, are we gonna get going soon?" Lynn asks._

_He laughs at his granddaughter's impatience, "We'll get going in a bit, but first, who wants lunch?"_

_Lynn is about to say no, but her stomach answers for her, "Yeah, I could eat."_

_The next couple of hours are spent relaxing; while Lynn wanted to go find the buck, Lincoln and Pop-Pop seemed to find their fun telling stories and going on a short hike around the woods. Lynn's patience is wearing thin as she watches the two have fun sitting around talking; while standing around waiting for a buck isn't the most fun thing in the world, she was expecting that by this point in time, they'd be getting ready to find one, not lollygagging around the campsite. _

_As the hours passed, Albert's eyes began to get heavy and Lynn is noticing that he's getting tired, she quickly calls out to her grandfather to wake him up so they can go, but he yawns and says that they can put it off until tomorrow. _

"_Seriously?! I thought that we were going tonight!"_

"_Lynn, we can wait for tomorrow–"_

"_But we're not gonna get a large buck tomorrow," she complains. "We're leaving before the sun sets!"_

"_Well I'm sorry Lynn, but we can have fun even without talking a buck home."_

_Frustrated, she grabs her hunting gear and walks away from the campsite. She can hear Lincoln and Albert calling out to her, and she begins to run down the path._

_Albert gets up, he turns to Lincoln, "Stay here in case she comes back. I'm going to go get her."_

* * *

Francisco takes in a deep breath as smells the clean air. The tent and the rest of their campsite is all set up, and all they're left with is figuring out what to do to pass the time. After Lynn announced that she wanted everyone to go camping, Francisco made an effort to find a way to pass the time and keep themselves from getting bored.

He turns to Elena, "Do you want to go on a short hike?"

"Sure," she answers.

Francisco calls out to Lynn, and asks her to join in. He figures that a simple walk down a pathway won't be the most exciting thing for her, but she did insist on this trip and he wants to make sure that they do everything that they planned.

Elena looks over at her dad, "What are going to do after we get back to camp?"

Lynn answered, "I brought fireworks; we can light them!"

"Or," Francisco answers, "I brought a hammock, some jars to collect some interesting things, and a book on animals that we can find in the area."

"Boring!" Lynn exclaims. "We should do something fun!"

"What good are fireworks in the daytime? We can do my things, and then we can light up some fireworks near the lake. Besides, we have a few hours until it gets dark and we go to sleep."

"Fine! We can do your old man activities," she jokes.

He rolls his eyes and leads everyone back to the campsite.

When they arrive, Francisco takes out the items that he brought to do some activities. While he and Elena are enjoying themselves, Lynn is a little bored, as she expected them to do something a little more exhilarating over the course of the day.

Lynn's stomach begins to rumble; despite claiming to herself that she wasn't enjoying herself a bit, she noticed that she lost track of time and she was ready for dinner before the sun set. She begins to make a fire, but notices the dark storm clouds beginning to cover the sky above them. Francisco and Elena head towards herwhen the sound of thunder takes them by surprise. Everyone looks up at the sky and drops of rain begin to fall on their faces.

The three get up and head towards the tent, Francisco asks Lynn, "Did you pack a tarp to put over the tent?"

"Uh…" she doesn't remember doing so.

A flash of lightning takes the group by surprise, startling them. Rather than risk being stuck inside of a tent with metal poles, Francisco decides to cut the trip short and pack most of their supplies into the truck bed. Elena and Lynn follow suit, but the three aren't fast enough to beat the storm.

"I told you that it could have rained," Francisco complains as a gust of wind blows in their directions.

"Well excuse me for wanting to do something nice for others! Maybe I'll be greedy and never care again!"

"It's common sense to check the weather! It's not like we couldn't postpone the trip!"

Elena hears the two continue to argue. She grabs everyone's backpacks and places them in the backseat with herself, and waits for both her dad and Lynn to get inside and hopefully stop fighting.

With the gear in place, the two adults enter the car, drenched in rain and silent as they leave the campsite.

Francisco slowly pulls into the road. Lynn and Elena notice how slowly he is driving; his back is hunched over and every headlight that heads towards them causes him to immediately step on the brakes. The poorly lit road isn't making it easier either and both passengers can see that his hands are shaking as he drives.

Lynn speaks up, "Francisco, do you want me to drive?"

"I can handle it! I'm not some stupid little kid!"

Both are surprised by the outburst, and Lynn is about to speak up, when Elena shakes her head to keep her from say what's on her mind.

As the rain begins to come down harder, Lynn pulls out her phone and searches for a rest stop nearby, "Hey look, there's a rest stop in less than a mile. We can stop there until the storm dies down, what do you say?"

With his eyes staring intently on the road, he mutters, "Lead the way."

Francisco pulls into the rest stop. He rests his head on the steering wheel when the truck comes to a stop. Lynn lightly shakes his shoulders and he looks at her.

"We should probably get out of these wet clothes," she says.

He nods his head. Elena hands out their backpacks and each grab a change of clothesbefore they make their way inside of the building. The three run inside; from the parking lot it appears as though they are the only ones and the silence inside of the building seems to confirm that they are indeed alone.

Francisco quietly heads into the men's restroom to change. He can still hear the thunder outside and cracks of lightning. The lights briefly turn off, but come back on immediately. He gets out of his wet clothes and changes before heading to the sliding doors to keep an eye on his truck and their gear.

In the women's restroom, Elena takes advantage of the privacy and decides to ask Lynn, "Has he always been like that? With storms."

"Not really. When we were kids, he didn't mind storms. I don't think he minds now either, but I think he likes being indoors away from the exposure. I think it got as bad as it did after your grandpa, you know."

"Not really…" Elena says, "Everyone in my family seems to get quiet about him."

She is surprised neither Francisco, his brothers, or even his mom have ever mentioned the man to Elena; granted, they may not want to relive the memory, but she must know something.

Lynn decides to ask, "What do you know about him?"

"His name," Elena says, before remembering that Lynn may have known her abuelo, "What about you? Have you met him?"

Lynn tries to recall, but keeps the last thing she knows about him from the girl, she imagines that if the family hasn't mentioned it yet, there must be a reason, "He was really nice, and he spoke in the most accented English I have ever heard, but he always seemed confident in how he spoke. He liked beer; I think I remember your dad mentioning how much he hated picking up beer cans in the summer. And I think your dad said something about liking to sing to old music," she couldn't remember much more after that, "If I remember something, I can tell you."

"Thanks," Elena says as she steps out of the stall.

The two walk out of the restroom and see Francisco leaning against the vending machine as he stares out into the rain, which at the moment does not seem ready to let up. He looks at all of the drops on fall onto his truck, particularly the windshield, and thinks about how winter just passed.

"Dad," Elena starts, "are you okay?"

He just nods his head, and the both look at each other as he stares out at the storm. They both know how he gets when the weather turns like this, and even after all these years it surprises them to see him quieter than normal.

Both stand beside him and lean against a vending machine as they stare outside, waiting for the rain to stop.

"So…" Lynn doesn't know what to say.

"Do you remember when you dared me to dance outside during that big thunderstorm?"

Lynn smiles at the memory. They were in high school and stayed late after class, and as they were waiting for their rides, the storm got worse, the sky got as dark as night and lightning was flashing; she dared him to go outside just to goof around, and he actually did it.

"Yeah," she says. "And Mrs. Brooks thought that we were crazy as we ran back inside."

Both adults laugh at the memory, while Elena tries to imagine her dad as the type of man who would actually take on such a dare. To her, it's almost hard to believe that the serious man that she's known all her life would be playful enough to dance in the rain, but there they are still laughing as they recount the story.

The flash of thunder interrupts everyone. Lynn holds on tightly to his hand and notices that he has his eyes closed. "Francisco? Are you okay?"

He opens one eye, "Yeah…I'm fine."

Lynn knows he isn't, but he's never going to admit it. After all these years, she thought that he would get over what happened, but she knows that that isn't how it works for everyone; especially after something so traumatic.

Elena looks over at the couple, and notices that the two are holding hands as they look out at the rain.

* * *

_Lynn kicks the dirt as she walks down the path; she has no idea here she is going, but she doesn't care. She knows that she should have expected this to happen once Lincoln said that he was joining, but she was hoping that it would have been closer to the end of the trip._

_She spots a log and takes a seat to stare out at the lake. The sound of the insects begins to bother her and she takes a rock from the ground and tosses it at the lake. The rock skips a few times before sinking into the water. She smiles upon hearing the sinking sound, and she takes another rock to repeat the process in hopes of beating her personal record. _

_Albert finds her, "There you are, I was worried about you."_

_Lynn takes a seat on the log; she keeps her eyes looking forward, avoiding his gaze as she stays quiet. She knows that she was being immature, but it doesn't change the fact that she was promised a chance to actually hunt a buck this evening._

_Her grandpa takes a seat next to her, "Do you want to talk about what happened?"_

_She shakes her head._

_Albert starts, "I'm sorry that I know that I promised you, and I guess I was just having so much fun with both of you–"_

"_With Lincoln," she corrects. "You guys, were doing most of the talking, remember?"_

_He thinks he understands, "Is that what's bothering you? Kiddo, I know that sometimes it doesn't look fair, but you know that I love you and your brother and sisters equally."_

_Lynn stays quiet. She knows that he loves her, and she loves him too, but sometimes she wished that he was able to spend more time with her the way he does with Lincoln. Heck, even she knows that this whole trip was more for the two of them, she just tagged along because she opened the door when Lincoln needed an excuse the first time._

"_Yeah, I know…it just would've been nice for it have just been the two of us," she admits._

_Albert hugs his granddaughter, "One day, I promise we'll have our own hunting trip, just the two of us. Deal?"_

_Lynn smiles and nods her head, returning her grandfather's hug. _

* * *

The three walk through the door, exhausted after spending so much time at the rest stop. No one was planning on leaving the campsite sooner than expected, but it's not like Francisco and the radio didn't try to warn Lynn about the weather.

"We can definitely try that again next weekend!" Lynn exclaims, seemingly unfazed after spending the night at the rest stop. "We will make it happen."

Neither Francisco nor Elena say anything, but they are definitely sure that they are not going camping for a long time, no matter what Lynn says.

Lynn heads into the kitchen, "Who wants lunch?"

Francisco closes his eyes. He is exhausted, he was barely able to sleep at the rest stop and Lynn's constant fidgeting next to him didn't help. Rather than say anything, he heads to the living room and crashes on the couch.

"Fine, be that way," Lynn says, she turns to Elena, "Do you want something to eat? Anything'll be better after the junk food from the vending machine."

"Maybe later," Elena says. "Right now, I just want to take a shower and sleep in an actual bed."

"Okay, I'll keep the leftovers out if you get hungry," she tells her.

With both father and daughter sleeping, Lynn is alone and she sighs as she takes her phone out to play a game.

A few hours later, Elena comes out of her room and sees her dad still snoring away on the couch. It's getting late, and she needs to get home, but she can't bring herself to wake him up, rather than continue waiting, she turns towards Lynn, who is who is flipping through channels looking for something to watch.

"Hey Lynn, can you take me home? Dad said that he was going to, but I don't want to wake him."

Lynn opens her mouth as she tries to say something, but shrugs her shoulders, "Sure. I'll go get my keys."

As the two sit in the car, an awkward silence emerges as the two realize that they don't have much to talk about without Francisco around. Over the years, the two have heard things about the other, but they are never alone long enough to notice that awkwardness.

Elena clears her throat, "It stinks that we didn't get to see dad have his camping trip."

"He'll be fine. If he could wait all these years to go on just _one_ trip, I'm sure we can do this again another day."

Elena nods, "Yeah, I guess we can do this again, especially since you're moving in with dad."

Hearing that catches Lynn by surprise, "What?! What are you talking about? I'm not moving in with your dad,"she says as clearly as she can.

Elena is surprised, considering that Lynn has spent more time at her dad's home over the last couple of months. The once lonely house that usually had one occupant, now has the couple living together a few days a week, at least if the items that Lynn left behind are to be believed.

"Are you sure? You seem to have a fair amount of things in his house."

"No I don't," Lynn says, in an effort to end the conversation. Elena stops talking, but Lynn speaks up, "I spend a night or two, but that doesn't mean that I'm moving in."

"Okay, I get it," Elena says in hopes of stopping Lynn before she starts to ramble.

Lynn pulls up to Caroline's house and she escorts Elena to the front door. She thinks about her words and tries to remember the last time that she spent more than a weekend at her apartment, "I guess I do spend a lot of time at Francisco's place." She pulls out her phone, deciding that it wouldn't be such a bad idea to stay in her own home for a few days.

She takes out her phone, and calls him. When he answers, he sounds exhausted, "Hey, I dropped off Elena at her mom's. I'll see you later."

"_Can you pick up something to eat on your way back?" _he asks through a yawn.

She chuckles, "No, I meant, I'll see you tomorrow or something."

"_Oh…okay…I'll see you later then…uh, bye?"_

He's surprised that she not returning home, but he doesn't make an effort to stop her, instead letting her go to her apartment.

"Bye? And what the heck was with that pause?" she asks out loud.

She tries not to dwell on it, but it begins to bother her. She's sure that he cares, but it's not like they spend every day together. Lynn tries to think of the last time they spent a significant amount of time apart, but the earliest instance was back in December. Rather than let this eat away at her, she goes back to his house to prove to herself that she isn't living with him.

Lynn pulls out her copy of Francisco's house key, and stops as she thinks about Elena's words. She shakes her head, and reminds herself that the only reason Francisco gave her the key was because she was constantly forgetting to put it away or somewhere that he could find it.

"She can't be serious. I'm not moving in." She looks around the house and walks towards the kitchen and instinctively pulls out a chocolate protein drink, "He likes these, I know he likes these," she tries to convince herself.

She walks into the garage and sees the laundry basket that has a fair amount of her own clothing.

"I'm not moving in. I know it and so does Francisco."

Lynn thinks about the phone call after she dropped off Elena, he was upset that she was going back to her home, but she didn't know than letting her imagination run wild, Lynn searches for Francisco. She goes to his room where she hears the shower come on, and curtain being pulled.

Lynn bursts open the bathroom door, "Why the heck were you upset when I said that I was going home?"

Francisco pops his head out from behind the shower curtain, "What the–What are you talking about?"

"You were upset that I wasn't coming back, why?"

Francisco closes the curtain, "I wasn't upset…okay, I was a little, but it's not like you have to stay, you're free to go home. Don't worry about me."

Lynn silently sits by the sink. She notices the toothbrush that she uses when she spends the night, "Do you think that I spend a lot of time here?"

Francisco thinks about it. Ever since that first stormy night when he forced her to spend the night, she has begun to get more comfortable spending nights with him; at first it was maybe one night a month, but recently, she has spent five nights a week at his place.

"You're here…and…I miss you went you aren't here…"

Lynn has a small smile on her face when she hears that, "A lot or a little?" she teases.

"Ha ha," he laughs sarcastically, before continuing, "as much as you miss someone you love."

Lynn's heart skips a beat. He has never said that he loves her, well those weren't the exact words that he used, but he means it, at least that's what Lynn is telling herself.

"Francisco…did you just say that…"

He realizes what he told her. They've been together for years and never brought it up; neither one pressured the other romantically, and it made their relationship feel more relaxed, but now he is telling her, in the bathroom while he's showering that he loves her.

He takes a deep breath, as he thinks about what he's going to say next. He thinks about their nights talking, or how they spend game nights having fun as they cheer their team on, how nice it is to have her around and not be lonely, how she's willing to push him out of his comfort zone and invite him to take part in activities together; he clears his throat and says it, "Yes, I love you."

Lynn's lips began to curl as she smiles, unsure of how to respond. She stares at the ceiling as she tries to think if she's really ready to say it back to him. Lynn walks towards the moving figure behind the shower curtain, and she pokes her head in and surprises him with a kiss.

* * *

**Believe it or not, the first time I created an outline for this story, I completely forgot about them ever declaring that they loved each other. I went through a variety of ideas of things to add to the story, but this slipped my mind. ****As for the past shot, that was planned before some episodes aired, but I didn't want to throw the idea away, so it changed to be a little less dramatic and dangerous than it was originally.**

**Anyway, until next time, thanks for reading**


	29. Snacks and Changes

Lynn places a plate of breakfast in front of Francisco. Since Elena brought it to Lynn's attention how close she is to moving in, she figures that maybe it isn't a bad idea; there isn't any point in keeping an apartment that she barely uses, and even Francisco admitted that he likes having her around, so there shouldn't be a problem.

"Francisco, do you think that I stay here a lot?"

He chuckles a bit before taking a sip from his coffee mug, "You're kidding, right? You spend about five nights a week here. Honestly, you're getting ripped off by paying your landlord for an apartment you barely use."

"Well my lease is about to be up, and I figured, maybe I can just move in," she suggests.

He isn't sure what brought this up, until he recalls what happened after their 'camping' trip a few weeks ago. He told her that he loved her, and while her constant presence in his house shouldn't make it too different; the news is still taking him by surprise.

"Well, there's no reason that you can't stay, so whenever your lease is up we can help move you out of your apartment."

"Great! Are you free this Thursday?"

"This Thursday?" he asks to clarify.

"Yeah, I figured that I can probably have everything packed soon enough and then we can get the stuff left in my apartment here. You aren't busy Thursday are you? If you are we can probably do it Wednesday, but I won't have everything packed as well as could be."

He's surprised that she brought it up with only a few days leftuntil her lease is up, but it's Lynn, so he should just expect it by now. He figures that he'll have a few days to make some extra room for her stuff, and if her sisters are able to help with the move, then things should go smoothly.

Lynn asks, "Is Chuy free any time this week?"

"I don't know, why?"

"My sisters can't help with the move, so I was hoping that between Chuy, you, and me, we can handle everything."

He understood why Lucy can't help; she gave birth recently, "Why aren't Lily and Lisa able to help?"

Lynn shrugs her shoulders, "They said that they were busy with work or something."

"Did you forget that Chuy works too? I doubt that he wants to help you move after spending a day on the job."

She sighs, "Fine…I guess I can just do it myself."

He knows what she's trying to pull; she's done it before with her family, and it seems to always work, "Alright, I'll ask him, but look into getting some movers just in case."

She smiles, "Deal!"

"And rent a moving truck for a couple of hours," he reminds her.

"Why can't we use your truck?"

"Do you want to make multiple trips between your apartment and my house, or do you want to be done in one trip?"

* * *

_Lynn steps through the front door of the hospice with a basket in hand. The waiting area reminds her of her Aunt Ruth's living room, except without the cats, the dust, and the mind-shattering boredom. She walks up to the front desk, and the nurse greets her._

"_Here to see Bud again?"_

"_Yeah, I recorded some games this past week, since you know, you guys don't have a decent sports package," Lynn jokes._

"_We're in the business of easing pain and–"_

"_Exactly, ease his pain by having a sports package with DVR in his room," she suggests._

_The nurse laughs, "We'll think about. What's in the basket, Lynn?"_

_She sets the basket down on counter, "Just my lunch. I figure that I'll probably be here a while and I don't want to be a pain and ask you guys to fix me up a plate."_

_The nurse notices the two sets of silverware and the large quantity of food. It isn't a secret to the staff that Lynn brings some of Bud's favorite foods, despite constantly telling her not to bring him so much food, but she insists that it's for mostly for her._

_Lynn closes up the basket, "Same room as always? I'll see you in a few hours," she tells the nurse._

_She walks down the hallway, passing by some of the same patients that she did the week before; some of the patients that she's talked with before greet her as she heads down to Bud's room. Lynn knocks on his door and steps inside of the dark room where she spots him napping in bed._

_She turns on the lights, and calls him, "Hey Mr. Grouse! Who's ready for some baseball?!"_

_Bud chuckles as he gets up from bed, "About time you showed up, I thought that you forgot about me," he jokes._

_Lynn takes a seat in a chair, and invites him to sit next to her, "Like I'd forget the guy whose house I'm watching. Besides, I brought you your favorite," she tempts him as she takes out a tray of lasagna._

"_Am I that predictable or are you such a bad cook that all you can make is lasagna?"_

"_Ha ha," she laughs sarcastically, "This coming from the man who could literally be paid in the stuff."_

_Bud snickers, "Okay, I had that coming."_

_Lynn serves a small slice of lasagna onto his plate; the nurses and staff mention that patients normally don't have large appetites, but Bud rarely turns down her dad's recipe, even if he does sometimes struggle to finish these days._

_She notices him poking at the dish in front of him, "Do you want me to chew it for you and feed you like a bird?"_

"_No, I'm more than capable of doing that myself."_

_Lynn laughs, "Alright, but don't say that I didn't offer," she takes a bite out of her lasagna, "I heard the Lions game was really good this week," she says with her mouth full of food._

_Bud looks at her and hands her a napkin, "Did you hear it or did you watch it?" he asks; knowing that Lynn isn't the type to not watch a game live._

"_I'm serious! I heard it," she places a hand on her heart, "I didn't watch the game."_

_He isn't sure if he believes her; regardless, she still gets just as excited at watching a live game as she does a recorded one, so he won't know the difference, "Good, after you finish your lunch we can watch it."_

_She looks down at her plate; she's almost done, and he hasn't even taken a bite, "What about you? Since when do you leave lasagna on the plate?"_

"_I'm saving it for when I watch the game, unlike you, who's always hungry."_

"_Ouch!" she says sarcastically, "Excuse me for having a healthy appetite."_

_Bud laughs. He takes a bite out of the lasagna, "Alright, pop in that cassette so we can watch the game."_

_She smiles as she shakes her head; even after all these years, he still calls anything that records the game a cassette. Lynn walks over to the tv and plugs in the packed device so that they can watch the game._

_Bud gets nice and comfortable in his chair and Lynn pulls out her lucky cheese puffs from the basket, "Seriously? You're still hungry?"_

"_It's good luck for the team, even if we missed the game live."_

"_You're still sticking to that story, huh?" she nods her head, "and remember, if you puke, you're cleaning it up."_

_She sticks her tongue out and offers him some cheese puffs, which he rejects in favor of the lasagna in front of him._

_The two stare at the screen. It doesn't take long for Lynn to notice that he's being to doze off, she snaps her fingers in front of his face to wake him up, "C'mon G-Man! This is a good game!"_

"_Alright, alright, quit your bellyaching."_

_He attempts to stay awake by taking bites of his lasagna, but he can barely finish the small piece that Lynn gave him; luckily, Lynn doesn't mind skipping over commercials to get through the recording faster than normal._

"_Can you believe that crap?! I thought that the Lions were going to win!" Lynn complains, before noticing that he finally finished his lasagna, "Hey! About time! I thought that you were never going to finish that! Do you want more?"_

_Bud yawns, "I'm tired. Besides, I can't eat a heavy meal before a nap, I won't be able to sleep and then I'll be cranky at dinnertime," he tells her as he gets up from his seat. Lynn watches as he abandons the plate, and heads to his bed, "Sorry to cut this trip short, but there's always next time._

_Lynn nods in agreement. She gathers her things and watches the man get ready to sleep. She closes the door on her way out and tells him, "See you later."_

"_Alright Loud, see you in a few days," he tells her._

* * *

Lynn wipes the sweat from her brow. She misses the days when she could count on all of her siblings to help with a move, buther sisters are all busy at the moment, so she settled on Francisco and his brothers instead. Luckily, her habit of spending nights at Francisco's place led to them having fewer things to move than normal.

Chuy walks up to Lynn, "Are all your appliances staying here, or are you taking them?"

"No, the appliances came with the apartment, so it's mostly furniture and a few boxes," she tells him.

Chuy takes note while he heads to check on how full his truck is. He heads towards the parking lot and spots his youngest brother pacing back and forth around the trucks with his eyes fixated on the ground.

"Can we fit anything else or do we have to make another trip?"

Francisco snaps his head up, "What?"

Chuy stops by the truck to mentally take note of how full each truck is, "Never mind, I figured it out." He sighs, "We're almost done, but we're only playing the boxes in your garage, you know that, right?"

"Yes," Francisco responds, "and thanks for helping out."

It wasn't much, the couple loaded most of the boxes into Francisco's truck before he arrived, but Chuy nods his head, "Just remind Lynn to pay us and we'll be even."

"I will," he notices his older brother resting against the truck, "Long day?"

"Yeah…"

"You didn't have to agree to do this. You could have said no, and Lynn would have had to hire movers instead."

"It's over, don't worry about it," Chuy stretches his back, "I better get back in there before one of them tries to kill the other," he turns back to Francisco, "Why did you invite him again?"

"Another set of hands is worth it if you ask me."

"For me or for you?" Chuy complains.

Lynn heads towards her room to finish taking out the contents of her closet. Upon opening the door she is annoyed at what she sees, "What the hell are you doing?" Lynn asks Kiké, who is currently rifling through her closet and tossing things haphazardly on the floor.

He doesn't answer, "Hello, what's this?" he asks as he takes out a rifle from the closet. Kiké randomly points it around as Chuy walks into the room.

"What the hell, Kiké?" Chuy asks as he ducks from his brother's sight line,"Look, I know that you both hate each other, but don't plant guns in Lynn's apartment."

Kiké sets the rifle down, "I didn't plant this on the freakishly small garden gnome; she already had them in her closet."

A yellowing piece of paper that is attached to the butt of the rifle falls to the ground. Kiké looks down, but Lynn hastily takes the note and the riflesaway from him as she walks out of the room without acknowledging the two brothers.

"What was that about?" Kiké asks.

"Maybe she has enough of your fingerprints," Chuy jokes.

She walks straight to Francisco's truck and places the weapons into the backseat before going back to the apartment. Francisco is surprised by her silence and looks inside to see what she put away. He never pegged her as the type to own a weapon, especially since she is a capable martial artist, but he doesn't ask her why she owns two rifles.

When the trucks are packed, the four adults do a last minute check of the dwelling to make sure that they didn't leave anything behind that they might have forgotten.

Kiké leans against the counter, "So when the hell are we getting the money? You can't expect me to just give up a weekday to help. I know that Chuy doesn't have a life, but that doesn't mean that I love giving up a day to help the monkey in women's clothing."

Lynn scowls at the middle brother before heading towards the kitchen cabinets looking for anything to hit Kiké over the head with. She finds a wine bottle and grabs it, before Francisco stops her.

"Lynn, you still haven't opened that wine bottle that I got you?"

She looks at the bottle. She doesn't remember how she got it at first, but after hearing Francisco's question, it hits her, "No, I guess not. Well, I guess it's probably no good after so many years," she says as she is about to throw the bottle out.

"Hold on," Kiké says, as he takes the bottle from Lynn. "Do you have a wine opener?"

"You plan on drinking old wine?" Lynn questions.

"Yeah, because unlike you I'm not some goody two-shoes." Rather than wait for Lynn or anyone to find him a wine opener, he pulls out a Swiss army knife and opens the bottle himself. He taken aback by the temperature, but Kiké doesn't mind drinking it, "Anyone else want any?"

Chuy shakes his head, "I'm driving one of the trucks, and so is Pancho."

Kiké shrugs his shoulders, "Do you want some?" he asks as he points the bottle to Lynn.

"It's probably turned to sewer waste after touching the lips of a rat," Lynn remarks and turns away from the bottle.

"More for me then."

* * *

_Lynn walks through the doors of the hospice. She passes by the counter, "I'll be in Bud's room," she tells the staff, figuring that they should know who she is after so many weeks._

"_Wait," the nurse stops her._

_Lynn stops in her tracks, "Seriously? C'mon! It's been long enough, do I really need to sign in? Besides, I'm running late as it is."_

_The nurse walks towards Lynn, and leads her to a seat in the waiting room, "Actually, Bud said that he didn't want any visitors."_

"_Wh-What? What are you talking about? I'm his sports buddy; of course he wants to see me!"_

"_Lynn," the nurse places a hand on her shoulder, "I'm sorry." She walks behind the counter to grab a box and hands it to her, "He did say that he wants you to have these though."_

_The disappointed woman takes the box, "But he was doing fine a few days ago…"_

_The nurse gives her a comforting smile, but doesn't know what to say. This happens frequently, but it never gets see how guests react when their loved ones say that they want to see that Lynn's thumb is gliding on the creases of the box, she opens her mouth to say something, but leaves Lynn with her thoughts as she hears the phone at her work station._

_Lynn slouches in her seat; she doesn't want to see the contents of the box, she wants to see her friend, and no nurse or hospice staff is going to stop her. She spots the nurse still looking at her, so Lynn decides to go another way. _

_She steps outside and walks around the building; she has a general idea of where his room is from the outside, but everything looks alike and it's confusing her. When Lynn is sure that she has found his room, she knocks on the window to greet him. An elderly woman draws open her curtains and spots Lynn, "Hey, Mrs. Anderson…how are you doing?" Lynn asks before the elderly woman waves at her. "I have to get going, but I'll see you next time," she says before walking away. She knows that Mr. Grouse's room is only a few away from Mrs. Anderson, so after arriving at his window, she knocks on it, waiting for him to open up. _

_Unlike the previous instance, Lynn is met with silence, "C'mon G-Man! I know you're in there! It's your sports buddy!" she happily says, but still no response. She knocks again, but after some time, she realizes that he isn't going to see her. "Fine! Be that way!"_

_She grabs her things and walks away. She can't believe that he won't see her; she goes through a lot of trouble of finding the best game of the week for him to watch and making his favorite meal, and it hurts to know that he won't even look at her._

_Lynn takes a seat on a bench near the entrance. Her stomach rumbles. She sighs before taking out the lasagna that she made for this trip. Lynn pulls back on the foil and begins to eat the meal; trying her best to forget about what just happened. She looks over at the box that he told the nurse to give to her. Lynn shakes her head, whatever it is, it can wait until the next time she sees him. _

_Lynn finishes the entire dish and places the container and fork back into the basket, "Well I guess I'm done eating my damn frustrations…I can't believe that he didn't want to see me…" _

_She notices an elderly woman coughing as she is wheeled outside; she has a smile on her face and begins talking to the orderly who is escorting her. Lynn stares at two, before she is reminded of why people are here; it isn't to get better, but to comfort people in their final days. _

_She knew that when he arrived here that he wouldn't be around for long, but seeing him during her last visit, made her forget that he was very sick. It was almost like every other trip; they eat, they joke, they watch a game, and they have fun; except it wasn't like that…he was tired, and he barely talked. _

_Lynn sighs as she takes the basket and the box towards her car._

* * *

Lynn runs into the restaurant. After making progress in ensuring that she doesn't make her sisters wait on her for their usual Saturday breakfast, the former athlete has picked up the habit again. She spots her sisters and takes a seat, hoping that they won't say anything about her tardiness.

"You know, Lynn, I miss the days when you would actually get here on time," Lily says with a hint of playful teasing in her voice.

"Why am I the bad guy? Lucy isn't here either," Lynn says in her defense.

Lisa looks up from the menu, "She's at home with her newborn children, unlike you, who has no dependents."

Lynn rolls her eyes, "Whatever, I was training with my friend and it ran a little long, besides, I'm here, aren't I?"

Both younger sisters mutter under their breath before placing their attention back on the menu; there is no point in teasing Lynn any further, she can take it too seriously, and it ruins the fun that they have at her expense.

Lily turns over to Lynn, "Have you had a chance to see Lucy lately?"

The older sister shakes her head. A few weeks ago, Lucy gave birth to her twins and from the way her parents and some sisters have said, she's clearly exhausted; not surprising considering that she's a new mother with two young babies.

"I guess we won't be seeing Lucy again until she hires a babysitter," Lily says.

"Or Rocky gets a day off," Lynn suggests.

"Or Lisa invents a machine to age them so that they can stay home alone."

"Or Lucy is able to make her crystal ball into a baby monitor."

"Wait? Would it get signal all the way out here?"

"Only if it can connect to the restaurant's wifi."

"Which reminds I gotta tell dad to upgrade the router, it's almost a year old."

Lisa groans as the two continue their conversation, which is currently straying from their missing sister.

The waitress comes to take their orders, however, unlike the usual Saturday breakfast trips that involved the sisters interacting with a waitress after receiving their food; their father is the one who brings the sisters their breakfast.

"Girls, how are you? I've missed you so much," he says before giving each of them a hug.

"Dad," Lily starts, "We saw you this morning before you came to work."

"And it's been a long morning," he whines. He clears his throat, "Anyway, I have something to tell you girls," he tells them as he takes a seat, "I was sort of thinking about retirement."

"Are you serious?" asks Lily, stunned to hear him mention the idea of retirement.

"Well, I've been in the restaurant business for almost twenty years, I think it's time that I pass on the torch, maybe to one of you kids," he says with some hope in his voice.

All three sisters turn their gaze away from their dad. None of them had ever considered taking on the restaurant, despite every one of them having worked at the establishment at one point or another.

"So what do you say? Let's keep the Lynn's Table dream going for another generation."

None of them say a thing. The sisters can tell that no one is interested in the idea of taking over after their father, but after seeing the look in his eyes, none of them can bear to see him upset at the moment.

They each mumble under their breaths, which the elder Lynn takes as a maybe; he knows that it would be difficult to make any of his children change their lives at the drop of a hat, but he figures that with enough time one of them is bound to come around at the idea.

As he walks away, the sisters groan as soon as they're sure that he's out of hearing range. This isn't the first time that their dad has brought up the idea of someone taking over the restaurant or even working at it, but they know that no one is interested in doing so, yet he won't give up.

They feel bad for not wanting to continue the restaurant, especially when they remember those teary eyes, but there's no point in saying yes when they don't mean it.

Lynn takes a bite out of her breakfast, "Okay, I think that that got rid of that weird feeling in my gut."

The two younger sisters smile at Lynn's silly words, and decide to eat their breakfast.

* * *

_Lynn sits in the chair. Her eyes are fixated on the picture of her old friend; she recalls seeing that picture on the mantle above his fireplace and now it's blown up for everyone in the room to see. She knew that once the doctor recommended that he stay in a hospice, it was only a matter of time before he passed away, but it still hurt, especially when he seemed fine the last time she saw him._

_The guests begin to get up from their seats; most begin talking amongst themselves as they share memories of Bud, some are still crying, and Lynn just sits there trying to process everything. She feels some tears falling down her cheeks. It isn't the first funeral that she's attended, but it's definitely the first where she has plenty of memories of the person who has passed._

_She feels a hand on her shoulder, and Lynn looks up and sees Bud's son, "How are you holding up?"_

"_I've been better…"_

"_Yeah, me too…"_

_The two sit quietly; neither one has talked with the other for more than a few minutes, they knew of each other, but their only real connection was Bud, and now he's gone._

_Family members begin recounting their favorite memories of Bud. As each person speaks, Lynn's mind grows blank as if she just forgot where she is and how to speak. Everyone around her is either crying or laughing and all she's doing is just sitting there in her seat._

_As the room empties, Lynn drives away back to Bud's house, where she spots his son waiting in his car by the driveway._

"_Hey…Listen, I don't know if you ever knew what my dad was planning on doing about the house, but–"_

"_Don't worry, I'll be out of there in a week," she says._

_He pauses for a bit, "Dad mentioned why you there…"Lynn glares at the floor, upset that Bud told his son, "I was sort of surprised considering how adamant he was against a nurse, but I guess he finally turned around on the idea to at least have someone around in case anything happened."_

_Lynn doesn't know what he's talking about, but she assumes that the man was told a lie by his dad to keep him from asking too many questions._

"_You don't have to go immediately," he tells her, "The house seems like it's in fine shape, so you can stick around for a little while, it's the least I can do after you helped take care of my dad." He hands her a piece of paper with his phone number, "Let me know if anything changes."_

_She nods._

"_Also…thanks for being there for him, I know that it meant a lot to him."_

_There is an awkward silence between the two, and the man decides to leave; not able to bear being near his childhood home immediately after his dad's death._

_Lynn watches him drive away. She walks through the front door, despite living here alone for weeks, it feels even quieter now that Bud is really gone. Lynn takes a seat in front of the tv; she stares at the blank screen, unable to turn on the device to numb her mind. She taps her fingers on the armrest as her eyes wander around the room; her eyes stop at his liquor cabinet and she swallows, tempted by a beverage._

_Lynn pours a glass of whiskey and raises it in the air, "And could you raise your glasses to Bud Grouse; a good neighbor, a great friend and an amazing sports buddy that a lonely teenager could ask for."_

_She stares at the photo of him and his wife from a football game before putting down the glass, "Man, I can't believe how long it's been since that first Lions game," she lets out a chuckle as she remembers how frustrated he was by her overbearing nature, "and to think, that that day was the start of a great friendship."_

_She walks up to the photo, and notices a ball from their first football game together, "I can't believe that you still have that ball," she tells him. As if she was speaking to a crowd, she says, "I remember you complaining that there was a crowd around the quarterback, and in true me fashion, I tackled everyone, put on my best puppy-dog eye routine and got that autograph for you. It probably helped that I was so small, he thought that I was a little kid too."_

_Lynn imagines him laughing at the jab she took at herself. She tries to think of another story, "Do you remember when we went to the Red Wings game and a puck flew right into my face and I got blood on my popcorn?"_

_She can hear him reminding her that she also ate the non-bloody pieces of popcorn because she didn't want to miss the game after going into overtime. _

_She laughs, "What about at the Tigers game? Remember when I promised you a foul ball after I forgot my money at home. I was so desperate to get it for you that I didn't care whose shoulders I had to climb to catch that ball."_

_Lynn stares at the photo, "I never did find out where that hat went either…doesn't matter," she feels tears forming in her eyes again, and she lets them fall free as stands alone in the big empty house. _

_She grabs the whiskey to bring it to her lips._

'_What are you? A quitter?!' she hears his voice speaking out loud._

_She stops in her tracks, and looks around the room; no one is around, but she is sure that she heard Bud stop her. She tries again._

"_C'mon! I've seen losers try better than you!"_

"_I ain't no loser!" she declares. Lynn heads to the kitchen sink, raises the glass one more time, "This is for you, you were more than a sports buddy to me, you were a best buddy," she says out loud as she pours out the drink in her glass._

* * *

Francisco gets out of bed. He can hear Lynn groan as she moves away from the noise, and he tries to keep as quiet as possible, but she ends up waking up regardless.

Lynn stares at the alarm clock, "What are you doing up so early? It's Sunday. Can't you just sleep in like a normal person?"

"It's late enough to not be early, besides, I promised Chuy that I would help him with his truck today. Can you watch Elena for a few hours?"

Lynn immediately gets up from bed, "What? Why?"

"We're just going to fix his truck and there's nothing for her to do there. Rather than let her be bored in an empty apartment, I figured that she could stay here."

He notices that she's nervous. This is the first time that he's asked her to watch Elena all by herself, but he assumes that she can handle it, especially since her moving into his place is the reason that Chuy's truck is acting up.

He gives her a kiss on the cheek, "She's easier than you think she is. Besides, it's only a few hours, you'll both be fine," he tells her before leaving.

She gets out of bed, and looks around the room trying to get her thoughts organized. It's only a few hours, so it should be easy and it's not like she doesn't remember what it's like to be an eleven-year-old girl; she just doesn't know what it'd like to be as girly as Elena is.

Lynn gets changed and sees Elena searching the kitchen for something to eat, "Do you want me to make you something to eat?" Lynn asks, startling the girl.

Elena jumps and tries to catch her breath, "Um…okay…"

Lynn gets to work, and quickly whips up something for the two of them. They silently eat, unsure of what to talk about. As they finish their meal, Elena heads to her room, and Lynn sighs, upset that she didn't try harder at making conversation, but she can barely make small talk without it going to sports, and Lynn knows that Elena isn't going to be interested in that.

Elena walks out of her room and takes out some nail polish, "Have you ever painted your nails before?"

Lynn shakes her head, "Nope. I can give myself a decent pedicure, but I never bothered to paint my nails."

"Why?"

"What was the point? I wore shoes that covered my feet and my fingers either had gloves. It's like why bother with nail polish or perfume, especially when I ran around and sweat it off."

From the stories that her dad has mentioned, Elena knows that Lynn was not a girly-girl growing up that worried too much about her appearance, but she hoped that behind closed doors she would be willing to give it a bit of a try.

"Can I paint your fingernails?"

Lynn doesn't have a reason to tell her no, so she gives in and lets the girl paint her fingernails.

As Elena paints Lynn's nails, she starts talking, "I used to do this with dad when I was little," she said. Lynn is surprised that he would allow her to do so, but she doubts he would say no to his young daughter, "Dad also mentioned that when you were both kids you used to play seven different sports."

Without thinking about it, Lynn takes her hands back and begins to count out the sports on her fingers, "Let's see…football, lacrosse, ice hockey, baseball, basketball, roller derby, tennis, soccer…do you count martial arts?"

"I will if I can go back to painting your nails."

Lynn complies before going back to naming more sports, "Rowing, swimming, rock climbing, did I do gymnastics?" she asks herself, "Maybe…cricket, but that one I picked up in college."

"How'd you get into that?"

Lynn tries to recall, "I was in the park and I saw these guys playing it. I learned the rules quick enough, and then I joined them. It's also how I got this scar on the side of my head," she turns her head to show the girl, "you can't see it because of my hair, but it hurt like hell."

"I bet," she says, "I'm done. What do you think?"

Lynn looks at her nails; she isn't sure what to think; they're just colorful nails, but regardless, she says, "You did a great job."

"Thanks. When they're dry, can you paint mine?"

"Okay," Lynn shakes her hands up and down to get the polish to dry, "What color do you want?"

"Surprise me."

Lynn's eyes look over at the green nail polish so that it matches her eyes, but something clicked in her mind, "Grass, no leaf blower, your grandpa always seemed to be using one."

Elena is confused, "What?"

"Remember when I told you that if I remembered anything about your grandpa I'd tell you. Well that's something new."

It is, but not the sort of thing she was expecting. The first few things Lynn told her gave her an idea of his personality, but using a leaf blower isn't memory worthy.

"Okay…that's something new."

"I wish I met him more to tell you anything, but your dad wasn't fond of inviting people over to his house."

"Why not?"

Lynn shrugs her shoulders, "Probably because of your uncle."

She can believe that, especially with childish squabbles, "I think your nails are dry."

The woman checks her nails and agrees that they're dry. She grabs the nail polish and begins to paint Elena's nails, "I'm curious, have you ever really liked sports?" Elena shakes her head, "Then why did you play a couple of years ago."

With a smile on her face, she says, "To get dad to visit more, and maybe have a little more to talk about besides school. His eyes would light up when the Tigers would win a game, and they really lit up when I told him that I wanted to play."

"But you didn't."

"I know, but I was seven when I hatched that plan and I was willing to do anything if it meant that I could see him happy."

As Lynn finished painting her nails, Elena asks a question that's been on her mind for a while, "Speaking of family, what was it like growing up with so many sisters?"

"Crowded," Lynn says with a straight face.

"I'm serious. I've never met anyone with so many siblings, and I thought that I'd get a chance to hear your experience as a middle sister over Lily's."

"You've asked Lily?"

She nods, "She says that you all treat her like a little kid."

"That is bound to happen, especially when she's the baby. And it was crowded; there was never any privacy, at least Lincoln had it, but it's not like he always had it, at least not until he was older when dad put a lock on his door."

"Why'd he do that?"

Lynn stops talking, and quickly changes the topic, "Doesn't matter, point is crowds."

Elena was hoping for a little more; Lily brought up more than Lynn did, and she was hoping to do so again, "Nothing else?"

"Well it was nice to have someone to talk to sometimes, although sometimes I wished that they would do some of the things I liked doing, like sports or at least watch it, but at least we had the Dream Boat."

"You watch that too?" Elena asks excitedly.

"Yeah, I've watched it for years; it was my family's favorite show. We text about it after every episode," Lynn tells her before pulling out her phone to see their Dream Boat chat. "What was your favorite season?"

The two chat about the show and begin to talk about other things they enjoy; while there isn't a lot of overlap, it is a chance to at least get to know the other. As the hours pass, Lynn is relieved to have finally gotten over her initial fear of not having anything in common with the girl, she's gaining confidence around her and even laughing at herself for being afraid.

"Are you hungry?" Lynn asks as notices the time.

"I could eat," says Elena, as she turns towards the kitchen, somewhat spoiled by the idea of a home cooked meal from Lynn.

"No nononononono we're not going to eat here, I was thinking about going somewhere else instead. Trust me you're going to love it!"

Lynn leads her to the car and drives them to her favorite little place, Romano's. As she pulls into the parking lot, she notices a bunch of construction trucks and workers walking into the deli.

Elena turns to Lynn, "What's going on?"

"I don't know…"

After parking the car, Lynn leads Elena through the array of workers and construction materials; she looks inside of the deli and notices the men talking, presumably about their plans.

Lynn walks through the door, "Wh-What the hell is going on?" she asks out loud.

The workers ignore her, and rather than wait around, the frustrated Lynn looks around for a familiar face. She walks through the backdoor sees Martino reading through some paperwork.

"Martino! What's going on? Why are there so many construction workers around and-and-and-"

Martino places a hand on her back to get her back on track, "Calmati Linda. Andràtutto bene." He points towards the stairs, "Raffaelina è di sopra. Vai a parlarle."

Lynn walks in the direction of the stairs, almost forgetting that Elena is with her. She turns around and called out to the girl, "C'mon! We're going upstairs."

The two head up to the family's home. Lynn spots the matriarch in the living room, "Raffaelina, what the heck is going on downstairs?!"

The older woman almost spits out her coffee after being startled, she glares at Lynn, "Cos'haiche non va?" She takes a deep breath, "What is wrong?"

Lynn takes a seat next to her on the couch, "What the heck is going on downstairs?"

Raffaelina ignores Lynn's question and turns to Elena, who followed after Lynn, "Would you like a bevanda…uh, beverage?"

"Yes, please," Elena responds and follows Raffaelina into the kitchen.

"What the hell?" Lynn says to herself as she follows the two into the kitchen. "Raffaelina, you haven't answered my question."

The older woman looks at the girl, "Francesco's girl?"

Elena isn't sure what she meant, "Francesco?"

Before Raffaelina could respond, Lynn answers, "She means your dad."

Raffaelina places a small plate of taralli in the middle of the table and brings Elena a water to wash it down with, "I hope you like it."

"Thank you," Elena says as she grabbed a taralli. "So, signora Raffaelina, how long have you and your family run the deli?"

"A few years. We wanted a business and Martino wanted a building with home on top. A nice woman was selling this building, and Martino used all of his money to buy it."

"Then what is with the constructions downstairs?!"

Raffaelina ignores Lynn's outburst and continues telling the story to Elena. Lynn can't believe it; the two have started talking like nothing is going on downstairs and they are both ignoring her like she isn't there.

"We're not going to talk about the construction crew? Or the noise?! Or the dust? The blueprints? Materials? Anything?"

Raffaelina stays quiet.

"Mamma! Tell Stefano that Caesar's Palace is a stupid theme for the trattoria!" Laura complains as she walks around the house and notices Lynn. "I mean; tell Stefano that he can't decide on Roman palace as a theme for the trattoria."

"A what?" Lynn asks, "Is _that_ what you guys are doing downstairs!? Why the hell are you changing the deli?"

Stefano storms into the room, "What's wrong with Caesar's Palace? It's better than Theresa's idea to make it bright pink." He notices Lynn, "Oh, I think I misspoke, I meant southern Italian Palace."

Lynn rolls her eyes at the siblings, "So why the hell are you changing the deli to a tractor-ia?"

"Trattoria," Raffaelina corrects, "And we have to change. Abbiamo ricevuto soldi da un investitore e lei ha suggerito un'esperienza culinaria più tradizionale, invece dei panini Sei vuoi arrabbiato con il ragazzo testardo che voleva la mia salsa di pomodoro davanti a lei."

She doesn't want to have this conversation at the moment, especially with Lynn's temper and because Elena is around, so resorts to telling Lynn in Italian, even if she can only understand a few words.

"Excuse me, I have to go check on Martino," Raffaelina says as she goes in search of her husband.

Lynn mutters under her breath, "I hate when they speak Italian when they talk to me." She grabs a handful of taralli, "Let's go. They're clearly too busy right now, besides I can make us something back home.

"Shouldn't we tell them? I mean we already walked into their home unannounced."

"Then we can leave unannounced too."

Elena gets up from her seat and follows after Lynn; she spots the family looking back at them as they leave, but notices that Lynn is too focused on leaving the area.

* * *

**Well I finally got around to writing a small piece with Lynn and Elena interacting without Francisco around; it's a small start, but they'll have some moments together, especially after such little nuggets of wisdom like a leaf blower and the Dream Boat.**

**Also, we should keep in mind something - Google translations are not always the best, but I haven't mastered Italian well enough, so it'll have to do.**

**As always, thank you everyone for reading, until next time**


	30. Kitchen and the Apprentice

Lynn paces back and forth around the living room; it's almost time again for her dad to call. For the last couple of weeks her dad, has called every Friday and asked the same question; even all her siblings have been asked too, but no one seemed to be interested last time she checked.

'_Thinking about retirement…thinking about retirement…thinking about retirement…_'

Those words kept bouncing around Lynn's head. She can't believe that after all these years, her father is ready to step away from the restaurant and enjoy his golden years. _'What would he do?'_ Lynn shakes her head, that isn't important; the important thing is who is going to take over.

Lynn knows that she doesn't want to do it, but it's not like anyone else wants to either.

Lori is off doing her thing in Great Lakes City and probably won't quit her job, even if she used to help dad with some of the bookkeeping. Leni is always running around and is really happy as training specialist for Reinenger's. Even as she thought about all of her siblings, she knows that none of them have shown interest running a restaurant.

Her phone rings – it's her dad.

"Hey dad."

"_LJ, I was hoping to know if you made up your mind about the restaurant_."

For the last couple of weeks, she would tell her dad that she would think about the prospect of taking over the restaurant, but in reality, she hasn't put much thought into it. In fact, she isn't even sure if she even really wanted to take over; she doesn't have much restaurant experience and while going from zero to one hundred is normally in her wheel house;that does not mean ruining her dad's dream.

"Well…"

"_Cause I talked to your siblings and none of them seem interested. I mean, Lisa I knew wouldn't want to leave science, Lincoln is enjoying art, Lily is starting to devote some time to her video game coding, Luna–_"

"Dad, I get it. So there's no one else left?" her heart pounds as she say that.

"_Just you, my little namesake_."

She knows that he is trying to pull at her heartstrings, but it she won't let it work. She doesn't know the first thing about running a restaurant; there's no way she can just take over without screwing it up somehow.

"I'll think about it…"

That is all she can say. She can't bring herself to say no just yet, but saying yes is definitely not something that is going to be happening.

"_Oh…_" That's all Lynn hears from her father, until he speaks, "_Well, let me know if you change your mind._"

"Yeah…I'll let you know," she says before hanging up.

She can't believe her siblings; all of them already told him no, and now she's the one stuck with her dad constantly asking if she wants to take over.

Lynn takes a seat and pulls out her phone; she searches for the sibling group chat to message her siblings about what she just learned.

Francisco walks in the room and sees her texting with an angry look on her face, "What's wrong?"

"Nothing, just my dad asking if I want to work in the restaurant and inherit it or something; he asked all my siblings, and apparently I'm the last one left to ask."

That isn't a surprise; Francisco is well aware of Mr. Loud's impending retirement, although he didn't know that he was going to give it , Francisco also knows that Lynn was asked a while back ago to give him an answer; by the sound of her voice, he can tell that she forgot to answer her dad before the rest of the Loud siblings did.

"Wait a minute, your dad is offering you a job at the restaurant, maybe inherit it and you don't want it. Why?"

Lynn crosses her arms and pouts, "I don't want to work at the restaurant. I'm fine with what I'm doing now."

"Really? You like working a part-time job and gambling better?"

As soon he finished asking, he realized what he said; Francisco knows that he doesn't bring up her gambling as a way to supplement her income, and while he still dislikes it, he stays quiet to maintain peace.

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"I'm just saying that maybe it would be nice to have a better job, and your dad is nice enough to help you; you should take it."

She scowls, "Maybe it would be nice for you to mind your own damn business!"

He's surprised by her sudden change in demeanor, "Look, I'm just being nice and pushing you to do better for yourself. I doubt you want to be whatever the hell your current job is for the rest of your life, and I sure as hell don't want to see you gamble at the casino whenever the mood strikes you!"

There he said it; it has never been a secret that he dislikes her gambling, but he feels as though he has to remind her about it. Also, she's getting a nice opportunity and he would hate to see her blow it just because she's happy with how things are now.

"I'll fucking give it up, when I feel like giving up!"

Lynn slams the door as she takes a seat in the backyard. She is fuming and doesn't want to deal with Francisco or even see his face or hear his voice at the moment. She knows that it's a better opportunity, but what's the point in changing what isn't broken in her life; she's doing well financially and she has plenty of free time to whatever she pleases and she's happy with it.

"I knew that he hated me gambling…" she mutters to herself as she crosses her arms and taps her foot incessantly.

"What's that neighbor-ette?"

Lynn turns around to see Jackson with a scythe in hand, "It's a little early for Halloween, dontcha think?"

He smiles, "No, no neighbor. I'm just trimming my grass. What has you so upset at the moment?"

"Nothing…"

Jackson steps closer to the fence and looks at her, "Lynn, I know that we haven't talked for long, but you know that you can come to me for anything, right?"

She stays quiet, but realizing that staying silent isn't doing her any good, she gives in and tells him, "My dad is thinking about retiring."

The old man stays quiet. He isn't sure what is bothering her about her father's retirement, and he waits patiently before she continues, "And he wants one of us, my siblings, to take over the restaurant."

"That's sweet; he wants it to go onto the second generation."

"Yeah, yeah, it's sweet and all, but all of my siblings backed out."

"All of them? So no one is interested?"

Lynn shakes her head, "No. One's an author, another's a writer for some tv show, another is a crew member on a professional pit crew, and another sister is taking a stab at going into politics. Of course none of them are interested in running a restaurant."

"So what's stopping you from taking over?" he asks as he cuts the long grass beneath him.

She goes silent. She doesn't have a good reason for why she doesn't want to take over, other than just because, "I don't know…" She takes a deep breath and looks into the house before turning back to Jackson, and in a whisper, "Can I tell you something?"

He nods, "Of course," he whispers back.

"I haven't has a stable job for as long as I can remember," she admits.

Jackson is confused, "Hold on, I thought that you were Elena's coach a few years ago?"

"I was, but the only reason I stuck around is mostly because I thought, 'Hey! This is my favorite thing as a kid. It's perfect!' that and Francisco. If not I would have left much sooner."

"So why have you been leaving your jobs?"

She shrugs her shoulders, "I don't know. Boredom. Hate them. Not what I really want to do. Something! I mean I barely keep a job for more than a couple of weeks before leaving."

Jackson can see her getting frustrated, "So I can assume that you're hesitating on taking this job because you think that you'll quit as well?"

Lynn nods her head, "Yeah. I mean I don't want my dad to just hand me the place and then I don't even bother hanging onto it. At that point, he might as well just sell the restaurant instead."

"Well, there is a way for you to see without a commitment."

"How?" asks Lynn.

"Ask to try it out for a week, or whatever your usual employment time is, and if it doesn't work out then at least you tried."

It isn't a bad idea, but she doesn't want to commit to something with her father; she can already imagine him going overboard and trying to hand her the restaurant as soon as she makes the proposition.

"That's not a bad idea…I'll think about it, thanks Jackson."

* * *

_The girls step outside into the backyard; it's the weekend, not that it mattered, considering that it was summer, but the sisters still treat it just as special as the did during the school year.__ They grab some of their toys and begin their afternoon of merriment; Lori and Leni set up a tea party, Luna and Luan grab their puppets and cardboard stage, and Lynn runs straight to the tree in an effort to climb it._

_The youngest sister tries to grab a hold of the tree, but she continues to slip off despite her best efforts. She makes another attempt as she clutches to the loose bark, but she tumbles back onto the grass. _

"_Lynn, sweetie," Rita calls out from the garage, "Stop trying to climb the tree, you're going to hurt yourself again."_

_The toddler isn't a stranger to injuries; everyday, the three-year-old makes a habit of climbing onto something, jumping off of said thing and, if the parents aren't attentive, breaking something; however, she still doesn't seem to learn her lesson._

_Lynn doesn't listen to her mom and keeps attempting to climb the tree until Lori yells out loud, "Mom! Lynn's trying to climb the tree again!"_

_Rita steps out of the garage, and heads towards the tree; grabbing the toddler before she falls and breaks her arm again, "What are we going to do with you?" she asks the girl, before setting her down. "Why don't you go play with your sisters instead? That'll be fun."_

_The girl runs off and goes to see Luna and Luan's puppet show while Rita heads back to the two girls are laughing amongst themselves, and Lynn decides that she can have fun with them, "Can I play?"_

_The girls don't have enough puppets, but Luan has the bright idea to make Lynn an audience member instead, "Look, Luna! We have someone to try out our act on." _

"_But I wanna play with the toys!"_

"_They're puppets," Luan corrects, "and we don't have enough," she tells her little sister. "Just sit down and enjoy the show."_

_Lynn complies. She watches as her two older sisters hide underneath the cardboard stage; a bunny and musician puppet pop out from under the stage, the bunny starts, "Hey Mick Swagger! What sort of music are balloons afraid of?"_

_The musician shakes his head, "I don't know, luv. What sort of music are balloons afraid of?"_

"_Pop music!" the bunny laughs and Mick Swagger joins in._

_When neither sister hears laughing from the audience they try out another joke, "What makes pirates such good singers?" the Mick Swagger puppet shrugs his shoulders, "They can hit the high C's!"_

_The puppets laugh again, but neither girl underneath the stage notices Lynn as she runs towards them and tries to pile on top of the puppets. The youngest one laughs, but her two older sisters aren't amused as they notice that their stage is now bent out of place because of Lynn._

_The two complain and Lori runs over to see what has the three fighting and yelling at one another. Lori whistles loudly before she breaks up her sisters, "What's going on?!"_

_Luan, who is clutching tightly to her puppet, "Lynn broke our stage!"_

"_And she jumped on us," Luna complains as she tries to massage her wrist._

_Lori scowls at the toddler, "You need to apologize."_

"_Why?!"_

"_Because you broke their stage."_

"_I didn't mean to!" Lori scowls at her youngest sister, and Lynn complies, "I'm sorry," she says with her eyes facing the grass. _

_Lori turns to the other sisters and waits for them to accept the apology; neither one is convinced that Lynn actually means it, so they begrudgingly accept in an effort to get things back to normal._

_The oldest sister walks away, but she notices Leni staring behind her. Lori turns around and sees Lynn following her, "What are you doing?"_

"_I wanna play!"_

_Lori is hesitant to let her join; she and Leni are having a nice tea party with one another, but delicate teacups combined with Lynn's history of roughhousing and she can already imagine that their tea party is going to end up like the cardboard stage._

"_You can't, you're too little," Lori says in an effort to keep Lynn away._

_The youngest sister scowls, "No, I'm not!"_

"_Yes, you are," Lori notices that Lynn is beginning to ball her fists, "Alright, I'll let you in, if you can…"she tries to think of something that Lynn can't do, "hop on one foot for a minute."_

_It isn't nice, but she knows that Lynn isn't able to do so, and at least it looks like she's being nice by giving Lynn a chance to earn her way into the tea party. The youngest sister attempts to hop on one foot, but she falls; she keeps trying over and over again, but fails each time._

_After the last fall, Lynn gets frustrated, "I can't do it!"_

"_Sorry," Lori says, "That means you can't join us," she mentions before turning around to take her seat. _

_Lynn is angry, and growls as she charges at her sister, "Let me play!"_

_Lori tries to get Lynn off of her, "No! You're gonna break something!"_

_The two go back and forth as the other sisters watch, none of them wanting to get involved until they hear Lori yelling that Lynn has a hold of her hair. Rita hears the sounds of yelling, and looks at the backyard, where she spots her five daughters fighting._

_Rita runs over, "Break it up! Break it up!"_

_She takes a hold of Lynn, and turns to the other four, "What's going on?"_

_The five girls begin telling their mother what happened, and while Rita couldn't get a complete sentence out of any of them, she is able to piece together what happened, "Girls, that's enough," she looks down at Lynn, "I think it's time for you to apologize and then you're going upstairs to take a nap."_

"_But I'm not sleepy!"_

"_I'm sorry, but you're not playing nice, so you can't play with your sister's," she sets down the toddler, "Do you have something to say?" Lynn shakes her head, and Rita sighs before scooping her daughter back into her arms, "I'm sorry, Lynn, but you until you learn to play nice, you have to go back inside."_

_Lynn squirms in her arms, "I don't wanna! I wanna play outside!"_

_Rita takes the toddler back into the house, leaving the older girls to play peacefully._

* * *

"Oh, I'm so excited," the Loud patriarch says to himself as he stirs his soup.

The other employees in the kitchen look at their boss, for the last couple of days he has been so excited about Lynn Jr. coming to take over the restaurant; even if his employees have to constantly remind him that it is a trial run and that nothing is set in stone yet.

"Now I know that it may be a little rough in the kitchen for the next few weeks, but I know that I can count on you guys to keep things running smoothly."

Rob, one of the kitchen's cooks, asks, "Does Lynn happen to have any professional experience?"

Lynn Sr. doesn't answer. However, Rob is right, he can't just toss his daughter into the kitchen with almost no professional experience, "Don't worry, she's a quick learner," he assures his crew.

The three look at each other, but can't speak up before he hears the door bell ring.

Lynn walks into the restaurant; she is nervous about messing up, "I can do this," she tells herself, but her heart is still pounding. "It's just a trial run. If it doesn't work out, then dad finds someone else; that was the deal."

She asks one of the busboys where her dad is, and he points her to the kitchen. She walks through the door, where her dad quickly spots her.

He gives her a hug and proudly wraps his arms around Lynn's shoulder, "Everyone, can I have a minute?" The crew stops what they were doing and look at their boss, "I'd like you all to meet my daughter, Lynn Jr."

The men all stare at her.

Lynn Sr. begins introducing the men to his daughter, "That's Greg, he's my right-hand man," he points to the man by the dishwasher, "That's Pete and over there," he points to long-haired man, "That's Rob, our cook."

Pete speaks up, "I thought Lynn Jr. was your son."

"Hey!" Lynn says offended at the comment.

Rob raises his hand, "To clarify what Pete is probably trying to say, we thought because of the Jr. that you were his son." He turns to the elder Lynn, "No, offense Mr. Loud, but you once called Lincoln your daughter, so we weren't sure anymore."

Greg looks at Lynn and turns back to his boss, "So she has no experience in a professional kitchen?"

"Well, the were a few stints when she was growing up, but she can learn," Lynn Sr. says confidently.

"I guess…"

Lynn scowlsat that. She understands that not having experience is a hindrance, but he doesn't need to act like a snob just because he is a professional cook.

Rob and Pete whisper and snicker to each other, and Lynn ask, "What? Do you guys wanna say that I'm not worthy of being in this kitchen with you guys either."

Pete flatly responds, "No, Greg wasn't a real cook when he started, but now he's teasing you."

Greg rolls his eyes and Rob continues to snicker.

"Well," Lynn Sr. says, "I'm glad that we got introductions out of the way, but LJ we should go into my office, so we can finish talking."

Lynn sighs and follows her dad to his office, "Are they always like that?"

"Oh, they mean well, LJ. It's just like when you kids were little and you used to tease each other."

"I guess, so what did you want to talk about?"

The elder Loud hands her a book and a variety of binders, "These are all the recipes for everything that we make in the restaurant. I'll need you to get started learning those before I let you in the kitchen."

"What?! Are you serious? I have to study?!" Lynn questions as she grabs the book and skims through the pages, "There's got to be like a hundred recipes."

"I have you make sure that you know what you're doing. I can't just send you in with no prior knowledge. There's recipes, ordering guides, the numbers of some local repair companies, and some extra info that you'll might need."

Lynn stops on a page, "I think I know how to make mac and cheese bites."

Lynn Sr. takes the book from her, "What sort of cheese goes in the cheese blend? How hot is the oil to fry them in? How many bites are in an order?"

Lynn doesn't know how to answer any of those questions, "Okay, you made your point."

"LJ, please, I want you to take this seriously. Now I know that you only wanted to try this for a short timeto see if it would be a good match, but I don't want to send my little bird in without a 'game plan'," he chuckles at his attempt at an athletic pun.

Lynn gives a weak smile, "Alright, how long do I have to learn everything?"

He pulls her into a hug, "See how much you can learn in a week, and then come back so I can test you."

"Alright, I guess…wait, what kind of test is it?"

"Oh, nothing big, just a general kitchen skills test where you make oneappetizer for me and all of the employees," he says somewhat nervously say.

"By myself?!"

"No, you'll have the help of the others, but you'll also need a…"

Lynn stops paying attention as she stares through all of the words in the numbers; her eyes begin to drift away from the pages and towards a speck on the floor.

"Got it?"

She looks up, "Uh…yeah…just a few questions."

* * *

_Lynn Sr. gathers the ingredients for his famous chocolate chip cookies. He figures that a nice day deserves a treat for everyone. He hears footsteps behind him; he's sure that his wife and daughters are outside and Lynn and Lincoln are napping upstairs, but he can't ever be sure with his youngest daughter._

_He turns around and his suspicions are confirmed when he sees his youngest daughter trying to climb onto the counter using the drawers, "Lynn Jr. what are you doing down here? It's nap time."_

_She doesn't listen and opts to continue climbing, but her dad grabs a hold of her. Lynn Sr. sighs as his daughter squirms in his arms, "Lynn Jr. I know that you don't like napping, but it's for your own good," he tells the toddler, who is currently facing away from him. He brings her up to his eyes, "Are you gonna be a good girl?"_

_She bops him on the nose; giggling as he yelps a bit._

_He wants to be upset, but it isn't going to do much for a three-year-old that barely likes to listen. Unlike her older sisters, Lynn is a ball of energy all by herself; she climbs, refuses to sit still, and has a hard time playing with other kids, "What are we going to do with you?"_

_Lynn Sr. takes her back upstairs to her room and sets his daughter down in her bed, "Let's try this one more time, okay?" He waits for her to close her eyes, but all she does is stare at him with a big smile. "I mean it. You have to take a nap," he tells her._

"_No!" she yells._

_He slowly steps backwards away from her, but Lynn hops out of bed and follows after him. Lynn Sr. closes the door, and sighs in relief, deciding that she'll be fine, and can eventually wear herself out._

"_Dad!" she screams as she bangs on her door. "Dad! Dad!"_

_She continues to yell for his attention until he gives in; deciding that keeping her next to him is easier than risking her waking her baby brother._

"_Okay," he sighs, "if you aren't going to sit still maybe you can just join me in the kitchen until you'reready for a nap."_

_He grabs Lynn and places her in achair that he can see her from, but once again, she squirms as she attempts to escape her seat. Lynn Sr. turns around and sees her about to fall off of the chair. He quickly jumps to catch her and sighs in relief as he keeps his daughter from injuring herself._

_Lynn Sr. sighs in relief, "Well, maybe I should sit here with you," he suggests, as he places her on his lap. He places the bowl from the mixer in front of them, "First, we need butter," he tells her as he hands her the softened butter sticks._

_Lynn tosses them in, wrapper included._

_He takes out the butter and unwraps them in front of her, "See, like this." The girl nods, "Then we need brown sugar," he shows her the box, and empties the contents into the bowl, "and regular white sugar," he pours the measured sugar in._

_He gets up from his seat and takes her and the bowl to the mixer. He leads her hand to the lever and they move it to start the mixer. Lynn watches in amazement as the paddle moves the ingredients, while her dad adds the vanilla and eggs._

_Before Lynn attempts to stick her fingers into the mixer, he asks,"Do you want to add something?"_

"_Yeah!" she screams as she takes the chocolate chips from him. _

_Lynn Sr. quickly adds the flour and baking soda, and he measures out some chocolate chips for her to add, but rather than wait for her dad, Lynn adds the whole bag's contents into the mixer._

"_Well…I guess we'll have extra chocolatey chip cookies then."_

_He turns off the mixer and grabs his daughter to take her to the oven, "First we have to set it to the right temperature," he tells her. He point at the knob that controls the oven's temperature and she turns it as far as she can. _

_Lynn Sr. sets it back to the correct temperature, and begins to scoop out some dough balls onto the baking sheet, "See you can do it too," he says as he hands her the scoop. Lynn grabs the dough with her hands and places it on the baking sheet, "Or that works too," he tells her as he gives her a kiss on her nose._

* * *

Lynn rolls out the dough for the pie. She has done this before, but she has never had to cook so quickly before. Usually, she would take her time, cooking may have been something that she doesn't mind doing, but she never thought that she would be doing it professionally.

The soft sounds of sizzling are in the air and Lynn looks over to see her cherries are still cooking in the sauce pan, "Crap!"

Elena and Jackson are sitting at the dining room table, as they create notes based on Lynn's culinary creations. For the past couple of hours, the two have been seated trying every dish that Lynn has presented in front of them.

"Why did we agree to do this?" whines Elena, who is stuffed after sampling so many different dishes.

"To be supportive. Now would you say that the Lynn-ger chicken is a little rare or is your's properly cooked?"

Elena looks at Lynn, who appears to be frazzled, "It is a little rare," she says, distracted by Lynn's anxious energy.

Lynn goes back to rolling the pie crust, when a drop of sweat falls on the crust, Elena whispers to Jackson, "We may not want to eat the pie," she says as she points Jackson in the direction of Lynn.

Jackson nods and continues to write down his notes; for the most part, the flavor is there, but she makes avoidable mistakes due to her carelessness.

Lynn places a slice of pie in front of Elena and Jackson, and both groan; neither one wants to continue, but Lynn isn't showing signs of letting up anytime soon.

"Well? Aren't you guys going to try the pie?" asks Lynn.

"Well," Jackson burps, "I think that Elena and I have long passed our recommended caloric intake for the week."

"Oh C'mon! It isn't that bad," Lynn complains while her taste-testers groan.

It has been a long day of watching Lynn set small fires in an effort to cook at the perceived speed of a kitchen, serving undercooked and overcooked food, and hearing critiques while cursing herself for not doing well. Regardless, Lynn perseveres, no matter how much Elena and Jackson should wish that she would call it a day.

"Well, I do have some notes," Jackson mentions as he takes out his comment cards.

"Great, what are they?"

He points at the excessive amount of pans scattered throughout the kitchen, "I believe that cooking in such a mess is difficult, the pie crust is uneven, also I recommend slowing down a bit, not to complain, I just think you may make more mistakes if you go too fast."

Lynn complains, "Oh C'mon, it's not _that_ bad. What about you Elena?"

"Your pan is too hot, and my chicken is under cooked on the inside, the macaroni and cheese bites are good, but were too salty, and Jackson is right, you need to slow down a bit."

Jackson nods in agreement, "Lynn, I understand that as a former athlete, speed is sometimes the name of the game, but maybe not when cooking foods that can make us ill."

"Alright, alright I get it!" Lynn complains.

Francisco walks into the house and sees how pots and pans all over the kitchen, the sink is filled with dirty dishes and the smell of smoke is permeating in the air.

"What the hell, Lynn?!"

Upon seeing him, she calls out, "Hey! I made pie do you want some?"

"Lynn, I thought that your dad was just making you learn the recipes, why did you need to make such a mess in my kitchen?"

"To practice. How else am I actually going to do well in the kitchen if I never get any practice?"

Francisco sighs heavily. He doesn't mind a few dishes a day, heck, he has been a willing participant in her daily multi-course meals, but the constant messes in the kitchen are pushing him.

"And can't you keep the kitchen clean? It's not_ that_ hard to do while your 'judges' eat."

"Maybe I just wanted to keep going! If I do end up taking this job, which you wanted me to take; I'm going to have to keep moving!"

Jackson turns to Elena and leads her outside; he can sense the two are going to fight and he doesn't want her to witness it.

"But you still have to keep it clean! Don't you notice that at Romano's they do the same thing?!"

Upon hearing that, Lynn sees red, but walks away from him. She punches the countertop in anger, which accidentally knocks over some stacked dishes.

Francisco sighs as he hears some dishes break and Dutch's engine as she drives away in anger.

* * *

_The three-year-old boy runs to keep pace with his older brothers, but his short legs can't keep up, "Wait!" he yells, but they still keep running until they reach the end of the apartment complex's parking lot._

_The nine- and the twelve-year-old wait for their baby brother, who is currently walking after getting winded from the run._

_Kiké turns to Chuy, "I liked it better when he didn't try running after us yelling, 'Wait! Wait!'" he says in his best Francisco impersonation._

"_You liked it better before mom got had him, besides, it's not like you didn't try keeping up with me when you were little."_

_Kiké scoffs, "Like it was hard."_

_As Pancho gets closer to his older brothers, Kiké walks towards a wooden fence that separates the apartments from the houses. He looks through the cracks, "Hey, I don't think they're home."_

"_So? Who cares?"_

"_They got an orange tree," Kiké tempts his brother, "and we can cut through to go to the park."_

_Chuy doesn't want to jump the fence for a short cut, but he knows that that won't stop his brother from trying, or Pancho,in an effort to keep up with his older brother._

_Kiké doesn't bother to wait for Chuy's answer, when he hops the wooden fence and lands on the other side. "See you at park, loser!"_

_The older brother rolls his eyes._

_Francisco finally arrives, "Where's Kiké?"_

"_He jumped the fence," Chuy says, before he is hit by an orange from over the fence. "Kiké!"_

_The middle brother laughs as he runs away. Chuy attempts to jump the fence and go after him, but is stopped when he hears his baby brother telling him to wait._

_Chuy sighs and goes back to Francisco, he lifts up the little boy so that he can jump over, but Francisco holds on tightly to the wooden fence; afraid of letting go and falling to the ground. Chuy looks through the small cracks and doesn't see Kiké, "Pancho, I'll catch you, just fall back."_

_The younger brother shakes his head; refusing to let go. Frustrated, Chuy jumps up and reaches Francisco's foot; forcing the boy down. _

_Chuy watches his younger brother cry as he was dragged off the fence, the older brother looks down at him, "Pancho, go home."_

"_But–"_

"_I don't care. You're too little, now go home."_

_Chuy watches as his younger brother hangs his head and drags his feet back to their apartment. He didn't want to send his brother away, but he didn't want to spend his afternoon babysitting his baby brother; besides, he's better off not getting involved in Kiké's shenanigans._

_Once his little brother is out of sight, Chuy goes on ahead to chase the troublemaker._

_Francisco arrives at his apartment and knocks on the door; Alicia opens the door, and asks her son why he's not with his brothers._

"_They didn't want me to play…uh…me dijo Chuy…"_

"_¿Que te vengas para atrás?" she finishes his explanation for him._

_The boy nods his head. He hates not being able to play with his older brothers, but they don't like slowing down for him and he's too young to keep up, so unfortunately for the young boy, he's always behind or forced to leave them alone._

_Francisco notices his mom wearing an apron, it's almost time to eat, and he figures that helping her is at least something he can do, "¿Te puedo…ayudar?"_

_Alicia nods her head, and leads her son to the kitchen._

* * *

Lynn drives, but she has no idea of where to go; Raffaelina isn't a choice and she doesn't want to bother her family, but she doesn't have any choice, and it is getting late. She pulls into the driveway of her childhood home and knocks on the front door.

"Lynn," her dad asks upon seeing his daughter at such a late hour, "What are you doing here?"

"I had a question about a recipe and I thought who better to ask than the man who created it," she lied. "It's not _that_ late is it?"

It isn't, but he doesn't expect guests on Sunday evening, "Come on on in," he invites her inside. He notices her bruised knuckles, "What happened to you?"

Lynn isn't sure what he's talking about until she sees him looking at her hand, "Oh…just angry cause I messed up a recipe."

"You shouldn't punch the wall because you're angry, you're going to hurt yourself real bad one day."

"I know…"

"So what did you want to ask me?"

Lynn hesitates to answer, "Uh…your cookies, I wanted to know how you made them."

He's curious as to why she wanted to know that recipe, especially since he told her that desserts weren't necessary to learn at the moment, "Uh, sure. I think I have some ingredients to make them right now."

The two head into the kitchen. Lynn Sr. is taken back to when she was a little girl and how she would sit in the kitchen as she tried to avoid napping.

"Do you know what you need for the recipe?" he asks.

Lynn heads to the fridge and grabs the ingredients that she remembers, including a sandwich that someone left behind, "Here you go," she says in-between bites.

He chuckles, "Still have that healthy appetite, huh?"

She nods, "Yup. So what do we do?"

He steps back, "You tell me, I'm your assistant tonight."

"Seriously?! But I always help _you_ when we make these."

It's nice that he wants to let her take the reins, especially since he's so particular in the kitchen, but she was hoping that for old time's sake that he would lead while she helps.

"I think you can do it. It's for the Lynns to switch!" he happily says.

They head towards the mixer and begin adding the ingredients. The two are quiet as they prepare the dough; they've made this recipe a bunch of times together, and they are able to work well together.

Lynn Sr. speaks up, "You know, the first time you helped me, I had you on my lap because you kept trying to jump off the counters," he laughs.

Growing up, Lynn has heard plenty of stories about her 'daring' adventures as a toddler, "Yeah, I can't remember how many times I've tried jumping off of the mantle."

"More than enough," he answers, "we definitely learned our lesson after you broke your arm," he sighs, "I think the nurse lectured both of us, but she quit trying after you kept going back to the emergency room so many times."

Lynn somewhat remembers the nurse that he dad was talking about, but as the injuries became less frequent, she didn't see her around as much, "Yeah, I was a troublemaker, wasn't I?"

He doesn't want to admit it, but she was definitely a challenge growing up. It seemed to have gotten easier as she got older, and became more capable of handling herself without their help, but he'll never forget the highly energetic child that she was growing up.

As he sets the oven to start preheating, Lynn begins to scoop out some cookies onto the baking sheet. He's sort of sad to see that she isn't doing it like when she was a little girl, but in the spirit of keeping things somewhat the same, he heads to the pantry and grabs some red course sugar and sprinkles it onto the cookies.

"What are you doing?" she asks.

Lynn Sr. continues shaking the colored sugar, "I used to do this so that you could find your cookies."

"Why?"

"Because you liked to grab the dough with your hands when you made cookies as a little girl."

The two laugh.

Lynn didn't know about that habit, but it definitely sounds like her, "Well, how about one for old time's sake?"

Before he could tell her no, Lynn already tossed a dough ball onto the sheet. She placed it in the preheated oven and the two wait as the cookies finish.

"Are you nervous about the restaurant test?" Lynn nods her head, "I know that it's scary, but I think that you'll be fine. After all, you're Lynn Loud Jr.!" he proudly professes.

Lynn laughs, "A fun-sized powerhouse!"

* * *

_Alicia sets Francisco down by the table; it's not often that she gets her sons to help, so she was more than happy that her youngest was willing to do so without ,as the afternoon goes on, she begins to realize how behind the boy is on his Spanish; simple requests for ingredients or kitchen tools are met with blank stares or questions about what it is she's requesting._

"_Pancho, tráeme el repollo__."_

_Francisco runs to the fridge and looks around, but he can't find the chicken that his mom asked him for. Deciding to take initiative, he drags a chair so that her can check the freezer for the chicken. _

_Alicia notices her son dragging the chair and asks, "¿Qué estás haciendo?"_

_He stops in his place, "Garrando el pollo."_

_She groans and moves the chair out of the way, she pulls out the cabbage and shows it right in front of him, "¡Esto es repollo! ¿Entiendes?"_

_Francisco nods his head and takes the chair back to the table. He takes a seat and silently watches as his mom chops the vegetables._

_Alicia pulls out a plastic lettuce knife from the drawer, some potatoes and a cutting board and places them in front of her son, "¿Puedes cortarlos?" she asks him, as she makes a chopping motion for him to understand."Cortalos en cuatro," she instructs him. She grabs his hand and counts out the fingers so that he knows how many pieces she wants._

_Francisco nods and begins cutting the potatoes. Alicia heads to the stove to check on the food; leaving the boy to the simple task._

_When she turns around, she notices the haphazard way that he's cutting the potatoes; instead of cutting them in fours, Francisco cut the potatoes four times and made smaller pieces than intended and the cuts are uneven. _

_Alicia walks over, "¿Qué estás haciendo?" she asks as she takes everything away from him. She complains out loud, "Ay Pancho eres pendejo," she tells him as she takes the potatoes he cut and throws the unusable ones away. _

_She shakes her head, annoyed that he can't understand such simple instructions. This isn't the first time that he's seen her cook, and while it is the first time he's 'helped' her, she didn't picture him making mistakes the way he did._

_Francisco looks in the trash at the potatoes that his mom threw away, "Mamí, ¿porqué tirastes las papas?"_

"_Porque no sirven."_

_He doesn't see what she means, so he begins to dig out some of the potatoes from the trash to see why they didn't work, but Alicia immediately stops him, "¡Ya vete!" she yells at him as she raises her hand; frustrated with his actions, mistakes, and the way he constantly slowed her down with his questions._

_Francisco flinches as he waits for the impact, but his mom walks away from him, and goes back to tending to the caldo. He sets down the potatoes and runs away from the kitchen._

* * *

After Lynn left, Francisco, Jackson, and Elena helped clean up the kitchen. None of them knew why Lynn behaved the way she did, but they have noticed that it has been becoming a more common occurrence over the last few weeks.

"Thanks for helping me clean up," Francisco tells the two.

Neither one says anything, but they are curious if he knows what has been going on with her lately. While this is the first fight that the two have had in front of them, Jackson has noticed that Lynn has become more short-tempered than usual. He would see her angrily pace back and forth in the backyard as she mutters to herself, she looked as if she was ready to punch whatever got in her way, and every time that he asked, she would say that she was fine.

"Of course, neighbor. Let me know if you need anything."

Francisco nods and Jackson heads home.

When their neighbor is gone, Elena takes a seat next to her dad, "Is Lynn okay?"

"Yeah…why?"

She knows that he's trying to keep her from knowing the truth, but she's not a little girl, and she can handle more than he's giving her credit for.

"Dad," she whines, as she pulls out the puppy dog eyes that Lynn taught her.

"No."

She's surprised that it didn't work, considering that it always works when Lynn does it.

Francisco grabs a piece of the pie that Lynn offered him earlier, and Elena quickly warns him, "Lynn accidentally sweat into the pie."

He tosses the pie into the trash, "Such a shame, it looked good too."

"Are you going to apologize? You know, for what happened?"

He's surprised that she would suggest that. As far as he's concerned, he didn't do or start anything that would warrant Lynn's reaction, so he doesn't see the point in apologizing; besides, he knows that it's just going to sound insincere coming for him.

"What for?"

"I don't know, whenever I fight with my friends I say it to get things back to normal."

Francisco doesn't blame the girl; he used to do that too, even when he wasn't the main person at fault, "When she comes home we'll talk."

'_And maybe I can figure what has gotten her so out of it lately,'_ he thinks to himself.

"C'mon we have a few more hours before I have to get you back to your mom's," he says as he leads her to the living room.

Time flies as they watch the screen, and every time Francisco hears a noise by the front door, he turns his head, but there is nothing. It's been a few hours since their argument, and he hoped that Lynn would have cooled down by now and come home, but she's still gone.

"Has she called?" Elena asks.

Francisco checks his phone, but there aren't any messages, "Nope, not yet," he sighs, "but I think that she'll call soon."

* * *

**Hooray! We're half way through the story (assuming everything goes as planned) Regardless, I'm still happy to have gotten this far, and I want to thank you all for continuing to read.**

**We're about to head into another little arc in the story, as we catch up with some old friends, bring back unresolved problems, and maybe see how even the parents and their little interactions led to the decisions made by Lynn and Francisco.**

**As always, thank you**


	31. Apologies and a Meal

Francisco drives around after dropping Elena off at her mother's. He has called Lynn for the last couple of hours and each time it keeps going to voicemail.

"Lynn, this is maybe the tenth call I've made. I know that you're mad, but you can't just ignore me because of that, so we need to talk," Francisco shakes his head. He knows that it is a terrible message, but he is getting annoyed with her behavior.

He went to DieselCity and she wasn't there. He went to Lucy's place and she wasn't there either. He went to Lynn's Table, the gym, her favorite lake, and even swung back to his place to see if she returned, but nothing.

"Romano's!"

It's Sunday and he figures that they would know where she is or that she would be at the looks around the parking lot to see if he could find Dutch, but nothing.

"Maybe they would know of another place," he convinces himself.

He peers through the window and sees a light coming from the back, "Wow they really changed the place."

Francisco knocks on the door, and hopes to grab someone's attention before the light goes out.

Raffaelina and Stefano step out from back and see him. She opens the door, "Francesco, why are you here so late?"

"Apparently, he still hasn't learned how to work that watch of his," Stefano complains.

Francisco checks him watch, "Look, I know it's late and that you guys want to relax and not worry about company, but I've looking for Lynn for a while and I was wondering if either one of you knew where she is."

Raffaelina looks at her son, "Chiudi la porta e vai di sopra, devo parlare con lui."

Stefano closes the door and left the two. Raffaelina leads him to a table and has him sit down, "What happened?"

Francisco winces in pain as he sits pulls out a pill and a broken piece, both of which he swallows dry, "I was mad her for mess she made, but it's not the first fight we've had. She's been more prone to outbursts, just the other day she got mad about me not liking that she gambles because I told her how she can do better with her life."

Raffaelina looks at him, "So you know? Good. I want her to stop too."

"Tell me about it. I know that she's good, but eventually her luck is going to run out and I'm afraid of what kind of trouble she'll get herself into trying to get her money or luck back."

"It's a dumb way to make money, but she always wins, that's why she keeps doing it," Raffaelina comments. "She's stubborn, but she calms down after our talks. How has she been?"

Francisco looks at her, surprised, " Wow…I never noticed that a few days after seeing you, she would end up as hot-headed as she is," he remembers to answer her question, "but I don't think much has changed since last Sunday except that she's probably going to work in her dad's restaurant."

She nods, "That's good. But we haven't talked in seven weeks, it's why I ask."

"Seven weeks? I thought that she always came to you every Sunday."

Raffaelina shakes her head, "Not since she found out that we were changing from deli to trattoria. She'll be back, but she's stubborn."

"How do you know she'll be back?"

She looks in dead in the eye and said, "She calms down and learns. But not just her."

He realizes what she means, "Me?"

She nods, "We talk and she tells me about you. She says that you're smart, hard-working, but too tough on yourself, that you love your daughter, hate your brother, but she hates him more."

He nods his head, "Yeah, that last part is definitely true. They've been at each other's throats since they met back when we were teenagers."

Raffaelina listens. She knows that the two have known each other for years, but Lynn had also mentioned that neither one asks the other much about their time after graduating high school.

"What do you know about her time before you meet?"

Francisco stops to think about it; he doesn't know much. Just like he doesn't talk much about his life while they were separated, she doesn't talk her life either. He's picked up a few things, but nothing that he could say is significant.

"I know that she went to college, she gets a lot of things from the tech company, Bryt Solutions, she bought that old car that keeps breaking down, she had some sort of run-in with an older guy, and her Pop-Pop and sports buddy died; that's all I know," or at least that's what he picked up on his own.

Raffaelina shakes her head, "That's it?"

Francisco is surprised, "What? You know more?"

"Yes, we talk and she told me some things."

"We've been dating for years, known each other for years before that, meanwhile you've both known each other for only a few months before her 29th birthday, how do you know more?"

"Not important."

"Yes, it's important!" he says, as he begins to get riled up, "If she can't even tell me about her past how are we ever going to get further in our relationship."

Raffaelina pulls out her phone and snaps a photo of him, "Do not speak when you are same way. She says you do not talk much, how you can receive if you do not give." She looks at the photo, and shows it him, "You are angry too, just like Linda…and maybe," she shakes her head before she searches through her phone and shows Francisco a photo of Lynn from the first day that the two women met. He looks at the photo and almost can't believe that it is Lynn; she is messy and looks defeated, as if life kept beating her down over and over again.

"What happened?"

Raffaelina doesn't speak, and contemplates what to do from here; she wants to tell him, but it isn't her place to tell him what Lynn hasn't already done so, "Enough…"

That isn't what Francisco wanted to hear. He wanted more information about what caused the spunky athlete to turn into the woman that he knows now.

"In the future," Raffaelina starts, "take deep breath and stay quiet. She'll tire out and you can _calmly_ make points for yourself."

"So I just have let her lash out while I take it?"

"No, you take a deep breath and stay calm, if not, you lose. Trust me; fighting back on everything does no good with her."

"I guess…" Francisco looks at his watch, "It's getting late. I should leave you to your family."

"Wait!" she says before pulling out an invitation. "We are having a grand opening and would love if you and Linda can come."

Francisco looks at the invitation, "October 13th at 7pm. Are you organizing a date for us?"

She shrugs her shoulders.

"Uh…thanks, I think we might need it."

As Francisco gets up to leave, "Francesco, can I ask for something? Martino is stubborn like Linda, and is in pain and needs medicine, who is your doctor?"

Francisco stops and looks at her. She had a genuine look of concern in her eyes, and he responds, "Dr. Reynolds. I've been seeing him for years."

"Thank you, Francesco. I know you and Linda will make things better."

When Francisco left, Stefano comes back into the room, "Mamma, why did you lie? Babbo's back doesn't hurt."

Raffaelina shrugs her shoulders and locks the door before going upstairs.

* * *

_The lunch bell rings and the students walk out of their classrooms to head to the cafeteria. As the cafeteria begins to fill with students, Francisco looks around for a place to eat in peace without attracting too much attention._

_Ever since Lynn got the bright idea to throw her jock at him, he has been the target of some light teasing. As the days passed, he didn't encounter it as often, but there are still moments where he hears people bring it up just for fun._

_Francisco hears some random boys tease him and he rolls his eyes at their taunts. He figures that if he ignores them, they'll eventually get bored from his lack of response, but regardless, there is still always someone willing to tease him for falling into the trashcan with a jock on his face._

"_How long until someone else embarrasses themselves?" he asks himself, in hopes of getting those stubborn classmates to move onto someone else._

_Rather than having to spend his lunch period hearing the same repetitive taunts, Francisco figures that he can leave the cafeteria and spend lunch elsewhere, but he notices an adult blocking the exit to keep the students from leaving._

_He has an idea of how he can get around the principal's assistant, but he isn't sure if she'll believe his lie. Francisco looks around the cafeteria and spots Lynn in the lunch line. He waves to her; hoping to grab her attention and get her on board with his plan. She runs out of the line with her food in her hands, before she is called the cafeteria lady telling her to get back in line to pay for her food._

_After she gets out of line, Lynn runs towards him and as soon as she gets close, he quietly tells her, "Pack your lunch."_

"_What? Why?" she asks, confused by his request._

_He shrugs his shoulders, "It's too crowded in here, and the teachers aren't going to let us out if they see our lunch."_

_Lynn looks around, the cafeteria is no more crowded than usual, but then she hears someone tease him about the trash incident as they pass by the two, "You want to say that to our faces?!" she threatens the boy._

_The boy shrugs his shoulders, "Really Francisco? You're gonna get your girlfriend to defend you?"_

_Both teens blush and Francisco quickly says, "She is _not_ my girlfriend. We're just friends."_

_Lynn doesn't say a thing, but she still glares at the boys; she didn't feel like being reminded of the relationship that isn't going to be._

_Francisco places his hand on Lynn's shoulder, "Forget it; it's not worth getting in trouble for."_

_She takes a deep breath as she calms down, "Fine!" she turns to face the troublemaker, "but this isn't over!" she declares._

_The two walk away, but as Lynn passes the boy, she takes the opportunity to kick him in the shin for teasing her friend._

_Near the trashcan, Lynn packs her lunch into her backpack and follows after Francisco. She doesn't know why he cares so much when he's been taking things in stride against their peers, but she isn't going to say no to spending lunch with him._

_As the two head towards the door, the principal's secretary stops them both in their tracks, "Mr. De Los Reyes, Ms. Loud, where are you both going?"_

_Francisco immediately says, "We got in trouble with the librarian and Ms. Gibson told us that we had to spend lunch helping her organize the books. Probably shouldn't have kept talking after she shushed us so many times, but someone," he points his head at Lynn, "couldn't help herself and we both got in trouble."_

_Lynn turns her head to Francisco; surprised by the lie that he is telling the administrator._

_The secretary looks at both of them, unsure if she should believe him, but considering Lynn's history with the school staff, especially when it comes to instructions; she believes them and lets them go._

_As they walk away from the cafeteria, Lynn speaks up, "What the–"_

_Francisco glares at her to keep her quiet; they are still too close to the cafeteria and the hallways can possibly echo what she says._

_When they are far enough, the two take a seat by the stairs, and Lynn asks, "What the heck was that? Why'd you lie?"_

"_I didn't want to spend lunch in the cafeteria and this is the only way that we would have been allowed to leave," he says. "It's not like it's true, so why does it matter?"_

"_You threw me under the bus!" she complains._

"_Call it revenge for the jock you threw at me," he says in a matter-of-fact tone._

_Lynn glares at him, "I thought you let that go?!"_

_He chuckles, "I don't remember saying that. I just asked why you did it."_

_She rolls her eyes before walking ahead of him, "C'mon! Hurry up before someone sees us."_

_Francisco notices that Lynn is being to run further ahead, so he quickly runs to catch up as she leads him to some stairs that go down beneath the school._

* * *

After leaving Romano's, Francisco drives towards Lynn's childhood home; it's one of the last places left, and a place, that admittedly, he should have started at first. He spots Dutch parked in front of the house and he parks behind her.

Francisco steps out and heads towards the front door, he rings the doorbell and a shock of electricity shoots up his arm.

The sound of his stifled yell grabs Lynn Sr.'s attention from inside and he opens the door to let him in, "Francisco, how are you doing?"

As Francisco clutches his arm, he responds, "Good evening Mr. Loud. I'm good. Is Lynn around?"

"Yes," he responds, "I'm here," he jokes.

Francisco gives a polite chuckle before the older man walks back into the house to get Lynn.

She steps outside and closes the door behind her, "Hey…" she says, unsure of what to say.

For the last couple of hours, Lynn has had a nice little conversation with her dad and it has given her a small opportunity to calm down, but she is still nervous to talk to Francisco, especially after what she said and how she has behaved.

"Are you okay?" he asks.

"Yeah…" she says as she takes a seat on the steps.

Francisco follows her and struggles as he takes a seat next to her. He pulls out his medicine from his pocket and takes a broken pill dry, "Look, about what happened. I know that you're stressed about this job and–"

"I don't…I don't know why I did it; why I got mad…I was just…" she struggles to find the right words.

"Frustrated?" he finishes.

He understands that she's stressed, but it isn't an excuse for her behavior. When they were young, Lynn was the type to get mad and be aggressive, and while she doesn't show it as frequently it still pops up from time to time.

"No," she shakes her head, "Look, the word's not important, I'm trying to apologize. I've been moody and you and the others didn't need to hear me blow up like that. So yeah, I'm sorry."

He wraps his arm around her shoulder, and they silently look out at the front yard. He doesn't know what to say; it's hard to let go with just a few simple words, but there isn't much more that can be done except learn from what has happened.

"I mean…" Lynn starts as she tries to explain what went on in her head, "it's just hard when I try to explain what's going on, but no one understands me. It probably doesn't help that I'm as moody as I am."

Francisco chuckles, but stays quiet. Yes, Lynn can be emotionally intense sometimes; he's used to it, but sometimes it takes him by surprise what sort of things can upset her.

When he doesn't say a thing, she continues, "I mean, I try. I don't think that I'm as bad as I was as a kid, but…" she remembers how aggressive she was when she was very young with her siblings, "Is the house still bad? I mean, I can clean it up, it is my fault, and it's not fair that you and Elena had to clean up after I left, especially since they spent the afternoon as my taste testers."

Feeling that she may not stop any time soon, he decides to bring up what happened earlier while he was searching for her, "I talked with Raffaelina. She says that you haven't visited her in the last couple of weeks."

Lynn scoffs, "We don't have to see each other every week. I'm sure she's sick of seeing me all the time, and sometimes I need a break from driving to her place."

He doesn't believe her. He's sure that she was bothered by the changes to the former deli, and it would explain why she hasn't visited in such a long time; but he can tell by the look in her eyes, that she misses seeing them.

"I think that she would appreciate you, you know, going," he starts, "and then you can see what you missed."

She shakes her head, "I'm fine. Besides, it's not like I have to eat their sandwiches every week."

"Lynn," he says firmly. "The changes have been done, and I think that they would appreciate their best customer, friend, going to see them on their opening night," he pulls out the invitation that Raffaelina gave him, "What do you say?"

She looks at the envelope. Her fingers are gliding across the crease as she thinks about whether or not she actually wants to go back to the restaurant.

"Fine… I'll talk with them. Then we'll see what happens."

"That's all I ask."

She walks into the house and steps outside again, this time with a bag in her hand.

"What do you got?"

Lynn smiles, "Your favorite," she pulls out some chocolate chip cookies from the bag, "Do you want one?" He shakes his head, as Lynn takes a bite out of the snack. A large chunk breaks off and falls to the ground. She chuckles, "Guess you wanted a piece, didn't you?"

"I'm fine," he assures her.

She doesn't take no for an answer and places it in front of his face, "Eat it!" she orders him. "You know you want to."

Francisco sighs and takes a bite out of the cookie. It's been years since he's had the Loud's famous chocolate chip cookie, and it still tastes exactly the same as it did when he was younger, "Thanks…" he mutters as he leaves the rest of the cookie uneaten.

Lynn helps him up and they head to their vehicles, "Do you mind swinging back here tomorrow so that we can look at Dutch?"

"It broke down again?!"

"I don't know! It was making a funny sound and I don't want to be stranded on the side of road in the dark."

Francisco sighs, "Fine, but you drive," he says as he tosses her the keys to his truck.

* * *

_The two go down, and Francisco sees a poorly lit hallway devoid of any life; the sounds of their footsteps echoes down the hallway and it makes Francisco wonder if the film club is shooting a horror movie down here._

"_What are we doing down here?"_

_Lynn begins walking down the hall, "No one seems to come down here, so I figured that it would be perfect. Now, no one can bug us and the teachers won't punish us for lying." Francisco follows after her. "But try to remember which way we came from," she warns. "We don't want to spend all day down here."_

_Francisco laughs at her warning, "We'd have to make a lot of mistakes for that to happen."_

_Lynn scowls, but Francisco doesn't notice, "I found this place in sixth grade and I've been coming down here whenever I can."_

"_Why?"_

_She shrugs her shoulders, "Boredom, curious, just cause. Who cares?" She notices that Francisco is about to step on a discarded cleat stud, "Look down," she tells him._

_He looks at the little cleat and picks it up, "Did you put this here?"_

"_Yup," she proudly boasts, "That's how I know where I've been. Pretty impressive, huh?"_

_Francisco isn't sure why she's proud of that idea; it seems simple enough to get in and out by retracing their steps. He also can't figure out why she's curious about this place; there's nothing but dust, discarded desks and trash._

_Lynn turns over two desks for them to sit on, blows the dust off, and takes a seat. She pulls out her lunch bag and digs around in it, "Let's see what my dad packed – a chicken sandwich, fruit, chips, my favorite sports drink–"_

"_Fruit punch?"_

"_You know me so well," she teases, "and I know that my dad packed me a cookie in here."_

_Francisco realizes something, as she goes through her packed lunch, "Why did you bother going through the lunch line if you already had something from home?" he asks. "I doubt that you'll be able to finish it and the food you got from the cafeteria."_

"_Is that a challenge?"_

_Francisco laughs, "No!"_

"_I think it is! Watch out! I'm gonna show you that I can eat all this food"_

_He doesn't bother stopping her; he knows that he can't, but it never hurts to see if today is the day that Lynn decides to listen to reason rather than her gut._

_Lynn takes a bite from her meatball sub, and with her mouth full of food tells him, "You're gonna eat your wor-" she begins choking on her foodand she makes a grab for her sports drink._

"_Have you learned lesson?"_

"_What lesson?" she scoffs._

"_Never mind," he says, knowing that she isn't going stop her 'challenge'._

_The two eat quietly. While they do spend their lunch periods with one another, it's rarely as quiet as it it's at the moment; however, that may be due to Lynn trying to finish two meals at once and Francisco spending his time looking around the empty halls._

"_Are you still getting teased from when I threw my jock at you?"_

_Francisco doesn't say a word. He doesn't want to remember the shock or the laughter; he just wants to put it behind him. _

"_It's no big deal," he says with a smile, in hopes of reassuring her._

_Even if he says that he's fine, Lynn still feels bad that their peers keep bringing up the incident._

"_You know that I'm sorry about that, right?"_

_He nods his head and places a hand on her shoulder, "Yeah, I know. That's what friends are for."_

_She down at her lunch and smiles; it's not just that he still considers her a friend, but it's those unfortunate residual feelings that she still has for him. Lynn knows that she probably looks silly to him, but it's going to take a while to forget that she likes him. She spent a long time looking at him as more than just a friend, and now they have to go back to that._

"_Exactly!"_

_Before pulling out his lunch, he spits in his hand and offers it to her, which she happily accepts and returns the gesture._

* * *

Lynn pulls into the parking lot at Romano's. She takes a deep breath before sheknocks on the front door. It had been almost two months since she last talked to Raffaelina and here she is, like a dog with its tail between its legs.

Raffaelina opens the door, "It's nice to see you again. Come in."

Lynn looks around the trattoria. The once simple deli with checkered floors is now transformed into, what Lynn imagines, to be an authentic Italian restaurant. The exposed brick walls, the wine bottles decorating the walls of the new bar, the warm lighting, the beautiful wooden furniture; it is all so different.

"Wow…this looks…great," Lynn struggles to say.

Raffaelina can sense the words getting caught in Lynn's throat. For as long as the two have known each other, this place has always the deli; the place where she could expect to talk and eat in peace without fear or judgment, now all of that is gone; at least in Lynn's mind.

Lynn takes a seat and looks at everything again. She can't believe how different it looks, everywhere she looks, she expects to find the something familiar, but everything is new and she doesn't know how to feel.

Raffaelina takes a seat in front of her, and breaks the ice, "How are things, Linda?"

Lynn's eyes keep wandering around the restaurant. No matter how many times her eyes are seeing the new Romano's all she could do is feel like she didn't belong.

Raffaelina snaps her fingers in front of Lynn, "Are you okay?"

"Yes, it's just different and…yeah…"

"Does it bother you?"

She knows that Lynn liked how things were before; especially if she thinks that they are a part of her 'good luck ritual'. However, Lynn needs to learn that just because something changes, her good fortune isn't going to go away; no matter how insistent she is that her hard work isn't the attributing factor.

Lynn scoffs, but Raffaelina knows the truth; Lynn is bothered by the changes to her once favorite deli. The deli that she's known for as long as she's known the family, that she's visited weekly, that never changed despite everything else changing; that deli is changing too.

Without looking at the woman in front of her, Lynn says, "I'm guessing that you guys aren't going to be serving your sandwiches anymore…"

Raffaelina shakes her head, "No, we are going to serve more traditional food."

"Great…" Lynn complains.

She's aware that the family wants to do better for themselves, but she just wished that they didn't have to go through all these changes just to get ahead in life.

'_You could've just added the tomato sauce to the old menu, and then you wouldn't have had to change much…'_

"Francisco told me that you invited us to your grand re-opening," Lynn mentions.

The older woman nods her head, "Yes, we hope that you'll be there."

Lynn nods her head, "Yeah…I think that Francisco and I can, you know, make it and whatnot."

"I'm glad. How is _he_ doing?"

The younger woman is surprised; Raffaelina rarely brings him up unless she was quiet and stubborn.

"He's fine, why?"

"Are you sure? There's nothing going on?'

"We made up after we fought," Lynn reasons. "He said that we were fine and he hasn't brought it up at all, although he does complain a little more about my trips to the casino."

Raffaelina groans; that's not what she's talking about, "No! I mean do you notice anything about him?" she asks in hopes that Lynn can piece together what she's referring to on her own.

It isn't exactly something you bring up without proof, but surely Lynn has seen something after all their years together, even if she hasn't put together all of the pieces herself.

Lynn shakes her head; unsure of what she's talking about. She gets up from her seat, "I should probably get going, so I guess I'll see you tomorrow or something…" she says as she turns around and walks away.

"Dimmi con chi vai, e ti dirò chi sei," Raffaelina says.

Lynn sighs, she hates when Raffaelina speaks to her in Italian as if she understood it, "Okay, I get it; you want me to keep learning! I'll try to keep the streak going," she tells Raffaelina, who sighs at her friend's thick-headedness.

* * *

_Francisco finishes his lunch, he pulls out his favorite dessert from his lunch bag, a Gansito cake. As if he were a little boy, happily hums as he sets down the snack and puts his trash away, excited about the sweet treat that he is about to consume._

_Lynn spots the unfamiliar chocolate snack cake on his desk and she asks him, "What's that?" _

"_It's my dessert," he says._

_She rolls her eyes, "I know that, I meant what is it?"_

"_It's a vanilla cake with strawberry jelly and vanilla cream covered–"_

"_In chocolate," she finishes. It looks good and it sounds delicious based on his description, "Can I try a bite?" she asks hoping that he would let her try a piece of his dessert._

"_No way!" he says, taking the treat away from where she can take it, "This is my favorite treat. Besides, you don't have anything to trade that would be worth it to me," he says as he looks at a bag of chips that she has yet to eat._

"_I can find something!" she says in desperation, as she searches her backpack for some sort of snack to trade. "Remember that cookie I told you about? I know that my dad put one in, and you can have it; it's got cinnamon, and somehow my dad can make them crispy on the bottom with a soft and chewy center, plus it's homemade which has got to be better than something you get from some factory."_

_Her description is making Francisco wonder why she wants his treat when her's sounds better; but he doubts that if he says anything that Lynn will listen, as she already has her sights set on his dessert._

_Lynn empties her backpack onto the floor and Francisco sees a bunch of papers make a mess on the floor. She doesn't worry about the mess that she made; instead, she just shuffles old assignments and notebooks in search of a treat._

_As he waits for her to find anything to offer him, Francisco cleans up some of the sheets that she littered on the floor. He notices the date and wonders why she bothers keeping an old assignment from the beginning of the school year. As he grabs more papers, he sees that Lynn practically carries a year's worth of worksheets, notes, and flyers in her backpack for seemingly no good reason._

"_Why do you have so much junk in your backpack?"_

"_Strength training," she says as she proudly shows off her muscles._

_He laughs, "You exercise everyday, and I'm supposed to believe that? Besides, you're probably doing more harm to your back than good."_

_She sticks out her tongue at him, and continues her search. Lynn is aware that she should clean out her backpack more often, but if she doesn't keep the papers in her backpack, she's sure that she's just going to lose them or make a mess in her room; rather than risk that, it's easier for her to keep them on her person until she is sure that she no longer needs the papers._

_Francisco organizes the papers that she's searched under. He looks at the time on his watch and he notices that he and Lynn don't have much time until lunch is over and they have to go back to class._

"_Look, I'll tell you when I'll bring it next time and then you can have a dessert ready," he tells her. "C'mon we have to get back upstairs."_

"_I know it's in here," Lynn says as she searches in her near empty backpack._

_Francisco takes a seat on the desk as he watches her drop her pencils onto the floor._

"_I found it!" she declares._

_He points to the mess that she made._

"_Fine! Give me a minute," she tells him._

_The boy unwraps the snack cake, but absent-mindedly places it into his mouth before remembering that Lynn wanted to taste it._

"_What the heck?! I thought that you were going to share?" Lynn complains._

_He shrugs his shoulders; he never agreed to share in the first place and there's nothing she can do now that he's eating it._

_Lynn, not wanting to miss out of the snack cake, takes a bite from the opposing side that he hasn't eaten yet. Francisco blushes as she sees her smiling face pull away from his, "Thank you," she teases as she licks off the chocolate frosting from her lips. "That was delicious."_

_A small piece of the snack cake falls to the ground, and both of them look at the uneaten piece. She takes the piece and places it with the rest of her trash._

_Francisco gets up from his seat, "Well, we should probably get going before the bell rings. I doubt we want to get lost," he says with a smile._

"_Yeah," Lynn agrees before tossing her trash into her backpack. She takes her cookie and hands it to him, "Sorry for stealing half of your dessert."_

* * *

Lynn stares at herself in the mirror. Even after all these years, she can't seem to get the hang of putting on makeup correctly without making a mess. She groans in frustration before grabbing a makeup wipe to clear the excess mascara. She looks at herself in the mirror, and is reminded of when she and Francisco went to Corbett's Lodge; she was nervous then and now she feels those same feelings as she gets ready to leave.

Francisco walks up behind her and rests his chin on her shoulder, "You look beautiful," he says as he gives her a teasing kiss on her neck, "and while I don't mean to rush you, are you almost done?"

Her cheeks begin to warm as she feels his teasing lips on her skin, "I figured that I should at least try to look nice for their grand re-opening," she says as she tries to re-apply her makeup, "You know, I wouldn't take so long if I didn't have to putting on more concealer than necessary," she teases.

A small tint of red appears on his cheeks, "Well I didn't hear any complaints," Lynn glares at him, he clears his throat, "Anyway, we should get going, I don't want us to be late."

She rolls her eyes, "How about instead of trying to rush me out the door, why don't you put on a tie?"

"Because we don't have an hour for me to learn how to tie one and–"

"You still can't tie a tie?" she interrupts. "I mean how have you gone all these years without learning?"

Francisco stops to think about it, "Because my dad never owned one, or wore one, and I never had many occasions where it was necessary to wear one."

"All I hear are excuses," she tells him. "I know you have one, go get it and I'll help you tie it," she tells him.

As he walks out of the bathroom, Lynn looks back at her reflection, she tries to hype herself up, "Alright, let's get this done and then we can go and be supportive," she tells the mirror.

Francisco steps inside with his tie, "Here it is."

The tie that he's holding onto is wrinkled, stained, and looks as though it has been collecting dust in his closet for years.

"Seriously? That's your only tie? What do you do when Elena has a nice event going on?"

"I iron my nice pants and button-down shirt and call it a day," he tells her.

Lynn sighs, "When we get back we're getting you a tie," she tells him.

Francisco chuckles and leaves her alone to finish getting ready. As she steps out of the bedroom, he steps back inside and hears Lynn complain about how _he_ was now wasting their time. He laughs and mentions that he is just giving her a taste of her own medicine.

He walks up to his cabinet and pulls out some cologne, "Let's do this," he tells himself, despite worrying that Lynn will probably be too close-minded to enjoy the night out.

As they step into his truck and drive to the restaurant, "Are you nervous?" he asks her, despite knowing the answer.

After she came back from seeing Raffaelina yesterday, Lynn appeared the same as before, except he could tell that she couldn't stop thinking about the changes and their upcoming dinner date. For most of the night, Lynn was pacing back and forth, muttering to herself; she eventually calmed down after she fell asleep in the morning, but he knows what she is feeling.

"No, why?"

"Just wondering," he says.

As the two step out of the truck, they look inside of the trattoria; they can see the family and the new workers inside as they make the grand re-opening a success.

She nervously holds onto his arm and notices something different, "Are you wearing cologne?"

"Yeah, it's date night. I thought that I'd surprise you and try something a little different since you didn't like me not wearing a tie. Also, how did you not notice when I was driving here?"

"I don't know! I think I was distracted," she shakes her head, "I like how you normally smell."

"Normally? You mean when you compare me to a baseball glove in a gym bag in a garage? You're kidding."

Lynn doesn't answer and instead chooses to walk through the doors. Francisco follows her, and the two walk inside. While they had an opportunity to see the trattoria in the daytime, the ambiance feels much more differently at night when the smells of the food are combined with the chatter from the patrons and the warm lights.

The two take a seat at a table and Lynn opens the menu; she is unfamiliar with the menu's new items that are far from what she accustomed to, "I don't know what to get."

Francisco looks in the menu. He has an idea of what traditional Italian cooking is, but judging by the look on Lynn's face, she's lost and has no idea what she may like.

"Do you know what you want to eat?"

"I don't know…maybe some chicken parmesan," she tells him.

She isn't going to find that on the menu. Francisco looks back down and looks for anything that would be safe enough for her to try and not complain, but he knows that what she thinks of Italian food is far from what is on the menu.

"How about you try the chicken cacciatore? I think that you'd like that."

Lynn reads the description, "But it doesn't have pasta noodles."

"Try it anyway," he tells her. "I had it once in college and I liked it, and I'm sure that they make it better than I've had it." Remembering Raffaelina's words, he continues, "I mean, I know that the dorm I lived was big on Italian culture, but still."

"Really?"

"Okay, I'm exaggerating a bit, but seriously, we had bocce ball tournaments, movie nights, and these large family-style dinners. Some of the students really took to it and tried creating 'authentic' dishes, well, as authentic as you can get at a California university on a college student's budget."

Lynn is a little surprised that he began speaking up about his time in college; he would rarely bring it up, and she doesn't often feel like reliving the idea of college by asking about his time there.

"Did you ever learn how to cook one of these so called 'meals'?" she teases.

He opens his mouth, "Not one bit." They both laugh, "I think I tried once and one of the upperclassmen complained that I was doing it wrong." In a mocking tone he imitates the girl, "Why is your sauce so salty? The pasta is falling apart! You threw away the water?!" Lynn laughs at the mistakes, "I eventually got banned from cooking for the others when we made these large dinners."

"Yeah, I bet," Lynn says as she stifles a laugh. "But hold on, when I was sick you made some pretty decent soup; that tomato, chicken and stars one was good, so I know that you aren't an entirely hopeless cook," she says in an effort to make him feel a little better.

Francisco chuckles, "That's because when I came back to Royal Woods, my mom insisted that I learn how to cook something edible so that I can take care of Elena and Caroline; so at least I can make soups and very simple dishes from my childhood."

The waiter walks up to the couple, "Would you like to look at the wine menu?"

Francisco looks over at Lynn, "I can drive if you want," he offers.

"But you can't drink."

"It's by the glass, not the bottle. Just order one for yourself if you want."

"I don't," she tells both him and the waiter, "Water'll be fine."

Raffaelina places a hand on the waiter and has him leave to tend to other patrons. She looks down at the couple, "I'm glad you were able to come tonight, it means a lot to us."

Francisco speaks up, "It's nice of you to have us. Right, Lynn?"

Lynn, who appears as if she is coming out of a trance, looks up and tells Raffaelina, "Nice to see you."

The older woman smiles, "Nice to see you too," she says as she places a hand on Lynn's shoulder to get her attention away from the trattoria's decorations, "I'll leave you both to enjoy your evening," she tells the couple.

Francisco's eyes follow Raffaelina, "That was nice of her."

"Yeah…"

"Do you want to talk about it?" he asks, hoping that being here could help her think and speak about what has been bothering her.

Lynn shakes her head, "No, I think I know what's wrong and it's not gonna go away overnight."

"Can you tell me? Maybe I can help."

She takes a deep breath, but decides not to tell him; she's had years to do so, but she doesn't want to him to worry or look at her like he feels sorry for her.

"It's fine. Now, let's get that waiter over here so I can order that catcher's chicken."

"Cacciatore," he corrects.

"Whatever."

After finishing their meals, which Lynn admits to have enjoyed despite missing the deli's old menu, the two get up from their seats to call it an evening. Raffaelina walks over to the two and she hands them a jar of their favorite tomato sauce, "Thank you for coming," she hugs Lynn and whispers into her ear, "I'm sorry…but you know that everything is going to be fine."

* * *

**Well, we got an opportunity to see what this story was originally going to be. Before the idea of past shots, there was supposed to be parts where Francisco and Lynn explain their pasts, but I couldn't convince myself that people stop and reminisce as much as I was going to make the two, and the shots give us an opportunity to see their real lives without it being misremembered.  
**

**Apologies for the tardiness, and I hope you enjoyed the chapter.**


	32. Alcohol and Sickness

The bartender places two beers in front of the brothers. Chuy grabs a beer and looks up at the game; usually, he can handle soccer or whatever sports that Pancho played growing up, but unlike his two younger brothers, sports aren't his thing.

In an effort to make small talk, Chuy asks, "So what do you think that we should do for Pancho's birthday?"

Kiké, who is busy scrolling through his phone, says, "Who cares? He's turning thirty-four. Not exactly a milestone birthday."

"Don't tell me that you're still upset that we didn't do anything for your birthday," the older brother teases.

"Une fête aurait été appréciée," Kiké says before dialing a number.

Chuy shakes his head. He isn't sure what his younger brother wants; he is out of town on his own birthday, so there is no way that they could have done anything special on the day of, unless everyone just packed up and tried searching for him.

"Put a dime on Michigan State and a half dollar on Notre Dame."

"Wow, big spender this time around," Chuy says sarcastically.

Kiké signals his brother to be quiet, and continues his phone call. Honestly, he wishes that his brothers would make better choices in their lives, but at least this is the smallest of Kiké's vices.

The younger brother hangs up the phone, "Like I was saying, a party would have been appreciated. Instead, what happens? I'm all alone on my fortieth birthday."

"You didn't tell us where you were, how did you expect us to do anything?"

"A good family would figure it out."

"Well, we aren't all mom and Elena."

Kiké raises an eyebrow, "Elena?"

Chuy mentally beats himself up, "I didn't say Elena, I said…el y…" he grabs the menu and points to some appetizers, "We should order some for Francisco when he gets here."

Kiké rolls his eyes at his brother's awful lying, _'Oh great, now I have someone else breathing down my neck.'_

"Why do you want my help anyway? Mom doesn't want me around, and I doubt that you guys and the other one really need my help to take him out to dinner."

"You don't know that. Mom may change her mind one day," Chuy assures his brother. "and he's your little brother."

Kiké scoffs, "Oh yeah, because calling him the little brother makes sense as adults. Besides mom telling me I never want you in my house again is so reassuring; she's happy I'm gone."

While he has been invited to hold mom's home on occasion, it was rarely without reason; her move was due to needing an extra pair of hands and Christmas two years ago was due tohim just being around Chuy when the phone call to invite him was made. However, hearing brother say that bother Chuy; he knows that Kiké has always been difficult, but it still feels weird to hear something like that.

"It's been fifteen years since that threat, maybe if you tried to be a better person then it wouldn't be a problem anymore."

Kiké mockingly smiles at his brother, "Well we can't all be the son mom and dad wanted, right, Mr. Perfect Oldest Son?"

Chuy rolls his eyes; he's nowhere near perfect, but regardless, Kiké will always think that Chuy is the preferred son despite his blue-collar job, his crappy apartment, and his lacking social life.

Chuy ignores his brother and stares up at the screen. Both brothers ignore the other and drink beer until Francisco arrives.

Francisco, the unfortunate designated driver, notices Kiké, "What are you doing here?"

"Hello to you too, menso."

Both Chuy and Francisco roll their eyes and proceed to ignore Kiké and his antics.

"So what are you planning for your birthday?" asks Chuy, even though he already knows the answer. For as long as he can remember, his youngest brother wasn't the biggest fan of his birthday, but it never stopped Francisco's loved ones from trying to make it festive.

"Does it matter? I'm turning thirty-four, it's not exactly a milestone birthday," Francisco says.

Chuy shakes his head. Even if it was, Francisco wouldn't want to make a big deal of it; after all, he never liked that his birthday is so close to Christmas and that growing up that was always the theme for the party too. "But it can still be fun, you've got Elena and Lynn, they could possibly make the party more to your taste."

Francisco raises an eyebrow. Even if they did plan something for his birthday, he knows that his mom would just convince them to go along with the Christmas decorations and call it a day.

"I doubt that," Francisco tells his brother, "You know, you're lucky you never had to worry about these sorts of themed parties."

"Quit complaining. You know I sometimes got them," Chuy scolds his brother, reminding him of his own Easter themed birthdays.

"Once every couple of years is not the same as every year."

"Still more frequently than mine," Kiké says, while still looking at his phone. "Hell, you guys didn't even celebrate my eleventh birthday either, I'm starting to think that you guys don't like me," he says, feigning hurt.

The two brothers laugh, "Let it go," Francisco tells him.

"Funny, I could say the same thing," Kiké says as he drinks his beer.

* * *

_Leni steps out of her car and looks at the apartment complex. This is the first day of her vacation and she has decided to spend her time with her parents and sisters after being away from Royal Woods for so long._

_She spots her sister's beat up car in the parking lot, which lets Leni know that Lynn does in fact live here. Unlike her other siblings, Lynn can sometimes be a little trickier to find as she keeps changing homes every few months without warning._

"_I can't wait for her to see me," she says to herself._

_Due to her job that has her traveling around, Leni rarely has an opportunity to stop back home and see what her siblings are up to, but she finally decided to take some time off and surprise her parents and sisters._

_Leni knocks on the door, and smiles as she imagines Lynn's surprise upon seeing her sister. She presses her ear against the door, but she can't hear any activity inside, so she tries knocking on the door again._

_After waiting a short time, Leni pulls out her phone and decides to call her sister instead. The sound of her ringtone can be heard as she presses her ear against the door again, but Lynn still isn't responding. Assuming that her younger sister is in trouble, Leni pulls out a bobby pin and unlocks the door._

_She looks around the apartment and spots the discarded phone on the floor, empty chip bags, broken glass, a mess of plates and cups all over the room, and a giant pile of clothes. Leni grabs the phone and nervously looks around, "Lynn?" she calls out, afraid of what she may find as she walks towards the bedroom._

_Leni hears groaning from behind the door; her heart is pounding, afraid of what she may find after she opens the door._

_The sound of Lynn throwing up grabs Leni's attention and she quickly opens the door and spots her younger sister hunched over a trash can._

"_Lynn!" Leni calls out as she runs to her sister. She rubs the younger sister's back, "Are you okay?"_

"_What the- Leni, what are you doing here? And how did you get into my apartment?" Lynn asks, with her head still buried in the trash can._

"_I wanted to surprise you and everyone," Leni says._

_Lynn reaches out and touches her sister's face, "Oh good, you're real."_

_Leni is confused by what her sister said. She reaches out to feel Lynn's forehead, but she isn't warm, just trembling, "Are you sick? Do you want me to call Lisa to check you out?"_

_Lynn shakes her head, "No! You know what Lisa is like, and I don't want her probing around me, besides, I'll be fine. I just need to, uh, need to, uh, rest."_

_Leni is still worried after the sight of Lynn and her surroundings, but she's willing to respect Lynn's wishes, "Alright, but if you don't get better soon, I'm calling her," she says as she tucks Lynn into bed._

"_Deal," Lynn groans. "But I'll be fine, it's happened before and I've only been sick since yesterday."_

"_Are you sure? Do you want me to get you something?"_

_Lynn shanks her head, "No, I just need rest."_

_As the younger sister closes her eyes, Leni continues to look at her; worried that something is very wrong that she doesn't want to talk about._

_Despite having her eyes closed, Lynn isn't sleeping; she's only doing so to get Leni to relax after finding her the way she did. At the moment, her heart is racing, but all her sister could see is Lynn turning in an effort to get comfortable. She keeps thinking about what Leni could have seen on her way to her bedroom; the living room and kitchen. Lynn is sure that Leni is more worried than she's letting on, but for now she can pretend to sleep while she comes up with some sort of explanation to give her sister._

* * *

"Are you sure that it's okay to leave Lynn at home by herself?" asks Elena as she steps out of the truck.

When Elena arrived the night before, Lynn was in bed with a fever and a stuffy nose; which her dad claimed was from her insistence of swimming out in the lake on Christmas Eve.

Francisco nods his head, "She insisted that we come and have fun, and I told Jackson that she's sick so he'll probably bring over some remedy."

Both shudder as they remember the foul smelling remedies that he has given the two over the years. They don't mind since the remedies work so well, but stomaching them is a whole other issue, especially after the trouble that their neighbor goes through to make it.

Francisco knocks on the door of his mother's apartment; it isn't his ideal birthday, not that he has one, but his mom wanted to throw him a small get-together. He isn't expecting much in the way of novelty, especially since he and Elena were the three days ago, but he's going to try to have fun for the two of them.

Alicia opens the door, and immediately pulls her son in for a hug, "Feliz cumpleaños, mijo."

He returns the gesture, "Gracias."

"Metanse, se esta entrado lo frio," she tells the two, as they quickly get in to get out of the cold.

Francisco looks around at the decorations in his mom's apartment. Like every birthday that she's thrown for him; it's Christmas themed and it's using the same decorations from their celebration three days ago.

Alicia places a plate of food in front of Francisco, "¿Dónde está Lynn? Tengo un plato de comida para ella," she says while pointing to the large plate of food on the counter.

"Está enferma y no pudo benir," he tells her.

At the moment, Francisco wishes that he put his foot down and stopped Lynn from jumping into the lake, but he knows that it would have been for naught and that she would stubbornly jump in regardless. Instead, he is going to try to make the best of what he's got at the moment.

After he finishes his tamales, he looks at his mom and daughter talk. He gets up from his seat and heads towards the couch; looking through all the channels to find a Christmas special that he hasn't gotten tired of watching.

"Otra vez ahí estás aplastado," Alicia jokingly complains, as she spots her son sitting down on the couch.

He has no idea when the first time was, and even growing up it was a rare occurrence that he would sit on the couch due to being out with friends or playing on one of his sports teams, but it never stopped his mom from complaining that he was lazy when at home.

Alicia takes the remote and turns off the tv, "Ven conmigo, vamos a intentar un poco más de diversion hoy."

Francisco isn't sure to believe her; like him, she's practical, so whimsy isn't a trait she has unless it involves decorating a house. "Okay, okay, I'm coming."

Unfortunately, with a stiff person like Francisco, fun isn't the easiest thing to accomplish, especially with just the three of them. So, Alicia decides to take out the photo album and show her granddaughter pictures of her father from when he was a little boy and celebrating his birthday. Most of the photos show the boy with nervous eyes, and away from the spotlight; there are photos of him actually enjoying himself with his cousins, but alone, he looks shy.

"Desde que era niño nunca le gustaba tomar fotos," Alicia says as she points out multiple photos with a nervous looking Francisco.

Elena is in awe as she looks through the photos; excluding the photos that put Francisco in the spotlight, he looks happy when he surrounded by other people.

"Pensé que no tenías cámara cuando mi papá estaba creciendo, ¿de dónde vienen las fotos?" Elena asks, curious about the few photos that Alicia possesses of Francisco as a young boy.

Francisco answers, "Mis tías tomaban fotos y se la dieron."

"Es una pena que no sonreirá a menos que haya alguien más a su lado."

Elena looks through the photos; she spots a man drinking two beers at once who somewhat resembles her dad. She looks up at the two adults and asks, "¿Es este hombre, abuelo?"

Alicia spots the photo and closes the album, "Déjame guardar esto, ¿quién quiere atole?"

Elena turns to her abuela as she takes the album back into her room. The girl looks at her dad, "What's wrong?"

"I guess she didn't want to see his face tonight…" Francisco tells her. He looks out the window, "Look at that, it's snowing."

Elena turns to the window and as she turns back, she spots her dad staring at the snow. She feels tears forming in her eyes.

Francisco looks at Elena, and spots her crying, "Sunshine, what's wrong? Why are you crying?" he asks, concerned about her sudden tears.

"I don't know," she says as she wipes away the tears, "I'm just really sad."

She doesn't know why she's crying, but she felt a sudden sadness after her abuela took the album from her.

"Okay," he says, unsure of what to do, "Do you want me to go get your abuela?"

Elena nods, Francisco walks towards his mom's bedroom and he spots her shedding a few silent tears. He gives her a few minutes before he knocks on her door to get her attention.

Alicia wipes away her tears, "Ya voy," she says as she wipes her tears.

The three spend the rest of the evening talking as they reminisce about past birthdays and some of their favorite memories that they have involving the birthday boy; while avoiding bringing up why both Elena and Alicia cried.

As the evening comes to a close, Alicia notices the weather and turns to Francisco, "¿Estás seguro de que quieres manejar esta noche?"

He isn't sure that he does want to drive; the snow has stopped falling, but the roads are probably icy and less than ideal, but he can't stay out all night with Lynn sick at home.

"Está bien, no mas manejo despacito," he says in an effort comfort both of them.

Alicia pulls Elena towards her, "Déjala quedarse conmigo. Ve y ten unas buena noche."

It's hardly going to be a good night, if he has to worry about a sick Lynn, but he's willing to take the opportunity, "Alright, te miro mañana," he tells Elena before going back to his truck.

* * *

_Lynn vomits into the trash can as Leni pulls her hair back. It has been two days since Leni arrived, and while her younger sister is doing a little better, she's still sick in bed for most of the day. She's shivering, but not cold, sweating, and her head hurts constantly; at least that's what Leni has been noting. _

_Lynn looks up, "Can you get me, um…something for my…" she taps her head as she tries to think of the word._

"_Do you have another headache?"_

_Lynn nods her head, "I couldn't sleep…"_

_That isn't much of a new complaint; growing up Lynn struggled to sleep and usually resorted to bouncing a ball until she could do so._

"_Well, you can stay in bed, let me see if I can find something to make the room darker," Leni suggests as she looks around for something to block out the sunlight. _

"_Don't worry about it, I'll get to sleep eventually. "_

"_Do you want something to eat? You haven't eaten much in the last couple of days."_

_Lynn groans, "No! I–" she stops talking as she feels her heart quickly pounding in her chest. She takes in a deep breath through her nose and lets the air out of her mouth; repeating action until she thinks her heartbeats have gone back to normal. _

"_I'm calling Lisa," Leni says as she pulls out het phone. _

_Lynn grabs the phone, "I told you, I'm fine! Just leave me alone so that I can sleep!"_

_Leni steps back cautiously; she knows that Lynn won't hurt her, but she doesn't want to take any chances._

_She closes the door, and sighs; she's trying to help her sister, but she's getting moodier than Lori on a bad hair day. Rather than dwell on what occurred, Leni looks around the apartment and decides to occupy herself by cleaning up the mess._

"_Wait," she stops herself, "is this one of Lynn's good luck thingys?"_

_She can't imagine that it is, but Lynn is so unpredictable that it probably is, "Just like the mustard stains on her jerseys."_

_Leni giggles at the memory; Lynn insisted on their mom not washing a jersey because she convinced herself that it was lucky and wouldn't work anymore which means that she'd lose and it'll be her fault, causing her teammates to hate her. Leni stares out after that; she almost felt like a young Lynn was right in front of her as she thought that._

_She never could figure out where her sister's superstitious nature came from, but it makes Leni wonder how much she really knows about her sister. Aside from their brief stint as roommates, neither one has had a chance to sit down and talk. _

_Leni looks around the room, and figures that the messy room could help her out. She rolls up her sleeves, and cleans up the chip bags, "Look! Lynn still loves cheese puffs and spicy cheese puffs," she tells herself as she throws away the empty bag. "and she drinks Great Lakes Brewery Hop-arine beer, Comeback beer, and White Deer Distillery," she sniffs the unbroken bottle and is immediately put off by the strong scent._

_She places the bottles in the trash and grabs a broom and dustpan to clean up some of the smaller shards of glass. Leni doesn't want to jump to conclusions, but as she clears out the glass bottles, she worries about what her sister isn't telling her._

_Leni takes a seat on the couch and looks online to see if her suspicions are true._

* * *

Lynn blows her nose into the tissue. Her nose is stuffy and the world feels as though it's standing still; she feels likes hell, but she didn't want to admit it, especially after Francisco told her not to jump into the lake a few days calls it punishment for her stubbornness, and she doesn't blame him, because now she's missing his birthday because she's in bed.

She didn't have much planned, the man hates celebrating his birthday in public, so most things were out of the question, but she figured that they could all have fun trying to find something for him.

"Dairyland would have been fun again…or maybe…" Lynn pauses as she tries to think of something that he would like that doesn't just involve everyone being cooped up inside. "This is what I get for working instead of thinking about what he wants. I had a whole year!"

After doing well on her dad's little skills test a few months ago, Lynn has spent a considerable amount of time at restaurant as a cook and as her dad's assistant with the books. While she doesn't mind her job as the cook, she does miss her free time which allowed her to plan things out a little better.

"Knock knock Lynn," Jackson says as he walks in with a large thermos in hand and a medical mask on his face.

Lynn is snapped from her thoughts, surprised by the man next door, "What the…"

"Francisco told me that you were sick and I thought that I would bring this for you before I went to the hospital."

"Why are you going to the hospital?"

"An old acquaintance of mine works there and she sometimes asks me to moonlight as a midwife and I was called in tonight. But don't worry about me, here," he pours a cup of the drink, "It's my famous hot toddy."

"A hot what?" Lynn asks as she looks down at the drink in her cup.

"Toddy," Jackson finishes, "it's to help relieve your symptoms. There's honey and lemon and cin…"

Lynn's mind wanders away from what Jackson is saying and goes to the drink in her hands. It doesn't look bad, but she's heard stories from Francisco about Jackson's remedies, rather than risk the taste startling in her mouth, Lynn swallows the beverage in one quick gulp, "Holy crap! This stuff is strong." Her throat feels less scratchy, the sinuses are somewhat cleared, and stomach feels warmer.

"Call it an old family recipe; now be careful with the cinnamon sticks, I left them whole in there."

"Do I have to drink the whole thing?"

"Well if you'd like to get some sleep this evening, it's recommended."

Lynn chuckles as she pours herself another cup of the concoction. A smile forms on her lips, she knows that she isn't going to be able to participate for Francisco's party, but she hopes that she could feel a little better by the time he gets home.

She licks her lips and swallows the warm beverage, before accidentally choking on a piece of cinnamon and deciding to take her time and enjoy the warmth that the toddy is providing.

"I'm glad you like it, but try to get some rest as well."

Lynn falls back on her pillow, spilling a few drops of the drink on her pajamas, "I screwed up…but no one but by brain told her to jump in the lake in the middle of December."

"Actually Lynn, from what Francisco told me, you jumped in the lake about 81% percent into the month, so hardly the middle," he informs her. "And if memory serves it was a rather cold night."

She closes her eyes and nods as she takes in the information. Unlike Lisa, Jackson is doesn't have the possess a tone that makes him sound like he's happy to be the smartest person in the room, but listening to him does reminds her of a close relative.

Lynn can feel the drink working some magic, "Am I supposed to get tired?"

Jackson chuckles, "No, I think that it's your fever. You should relax and pace yourself–"

"But I want to get better now!" she complains.

"Now as a doctor, I'm not going to recommend the quick route, take your time and you'll be better before you know it."

Lynn sighs as she lies back on her bed, almost spilling her drink, "Fine…wait, I thought you were a teacher?"

"I can be multiple things; I'm also a pilot if you're curious."

"So is my mom! But only on weekends. Wait!" Lynn asks, "Can you take me on a ride ine day? My mom doesn't fly much these days," she says sadly.

"Sure, I think my friend still has his plane, but I must warn you, there are some countries I can't fly over."

With a surprised look on her face, she asks, "Which ones?"

"I'm not at liberty to say…"

Lynn isn't sure if she's hallucinating, but rather than argue it, she decides to ask, "What else can you do?"

Jackson stops to think about it, "I'm a polyglot, and I was a rather formidable gymnast in my youth," he looks at his watch, "I'll tell you more some other day, but I should go, I told my acquaintance that I would be at the hospital after doing Francisco this quick favor."

"Tell him thanks and that I love him when you see him, okay," Lynn slowly tells him as she pours herself another cup of the toddy.

Jackson chuckles, "I think that you'd be better off telling him yourself."

* * *

_Leni opens the fridge to find something for her sister to eat, but the fridge is empty except for some premade deli sandwiches. She looks through the cupboards, but she still can't find anything to eat, she finds it difficult to believe that Lynn, as gluttonous as she was growing up, doesn't have much food in her apartment._

_Leni sighs, "I guess we're eating sandwiches again."_

_She takes out a sandwich from the fridge and pops it into the microwave to heat it up. Upon hearing the ding from the microwave, Lynn walks into the kitchen and spots Leni taking out the sandwich, "Are you hungry? I warmed up a sandwich"_

_Lynn shakes her head; she isn't hungry, despite spending the last few days eating almost nothing._

"_You have to eat something, Lynn, and I'm not going to leave you alone until you try," she threatens, "Sorry, was that too harsh?"_

"_No…?"_

"_Oh good, I was afraid of being too mean," Leni says, relieved after hearing her sister's response._

_Lynn takes a seat and looks at the deli sandwich, "Again? I've had Romano's since Sunday."_

"_Sorry, but there isn't much in the fridge," Leni apologizes._

"_It's fine," Lynn says, "I guess I forgot to go to the grocery store."_

_She can't recall the last time she went, but she does remember not buying much, just junk food and something to wash it down with._

_Lynn looks around the apartment; it's nearly spotless and she can tell that it's Leni's doing. She admits that she can be a slob, but Leni actually went through the hassle of cleaning her apartment and didn't even bring it up. The younger sister is beginning to feel bad and hangs her down in shame; upset to let this side of her out. _

_Leni watches as her sister looks at the sandwiches in front of her. She isn't eating, and the two remain silent. Lynn can feel that Leni wants to talk to her about something. _

_Lynn looks up from her sandwich and tells her sister, "Alright, go ahead and ask me, I know you want to."_

_The older sister tries to think of her words carefully. The apartment was a mess of broken bottles so clearly Lynn is temperamental and might not take the accusation well, but the evidence was shattered on the floor._

"_Are you an…" Leni leans in to whisper, "alcoholic?"_

_Lynn sighs; this is the second time that it's happened, another sister calling her an alcoholic. She can't blame Leni, just looking around the formerly messy apartment, and it's clear that no sane person would live in these conditions without something being wrong._

_Lynn scowls and turns her head away from her sister, "No! What makes you say that?!"_

"_Well there's the beer bottles; there were a lot of those, and I was wondering was making you sick, so I looked online…"_

_Lynn begins to phase out Leni as she talks; she knows that Leni knows and soon a few more siblings are going to know. This is where she wishes that Leni could keep a secret, but she'll probably blab, but then again, she would probably be the best one to know; a sister who could be of some comfort, assuming that she can stay in Royal Woods and not say a thing to anyone else._

"_What do you say , Lynn?" she asks. _

_Rather than answer, Lynn buries her head and begins to eat her sandwich._

_Leni notices the depressed look on her sister's face, "It's okay, we can get you help. I know that between you, me, and our family we can–"_

"_No!" Lynn snaps, "You can't tell them. Besides I'm working on it, no one needs to know."_

_Leni isn't sure why her sister against help from family; she knows that they would be more than willing to help her through this tough time. _

"_Forget it!" Lynn angrily declares as she pushes her plate away and walks to the living room. "Just drop it!"_

* * *

Francisco walks into the dark house with his presents in tow. He hears laughter emerging from his bedroom, followed by a crashing sound. He makes his way to the bedroom, and sees Lynn on the floor laughing as she tries to untangle herself from their blanket.

"Hey!" she slurs, "How was your party? Did you bring back any balloons? I like bouncing them around for a few days, especially the ones with the…with the…" she struggles to think of the word. "The floaty balloons!"

He chuckles, "I had a nice time. Although, I wish that you could have come."

"Me too. Instead I'm sick and wondering where I lost my balloon," she says as she searches around the room for the nonexistent balloon.

Francisco givesa slight laugh before he grabs her hand and tries to help her up to the bed. He sees the thermos and sniffs inside, "What's in here?" he asks as he took a seat on the bed next to her.

"Hackson's…Jack…son's tot hoddy…" she says before giggling, "Jack…son's…hot…hoddy," she breaks into laughter again at her mispronunciation.

"I'm guessing you mean Jackson's hot toddy?" he inquires, as he wraps her in the blanket.

"Yes!" she says getting up slightly, "Have you had it? It's…goo-licious."

"Goo-licious?" he says with a slight laugh.

She rests her head back on the pillow, "I don't know…a better…something…where's Elena? I bet should like to play with the balloon too!"

"She's spending the night with my mom," Francisco shakes the thermos a bit and feels that it is empty, "Wow, I can't believe that you finished this whole thing. When Jackson brought it over for me once, I couldn't finish one cup."

"Weak…ling…"

"Well excuse me, but pain medicine and alcohol don't mix, and I'm not going to be screwing my liver just to get over a bad cold."

Lynn laughs a bit, "What alcohol?"

"The toddy. Jackson puts whiskey and bourbon in it. He says that it's to numb your throat," Francisco informs her. "Although I think his hand slipped this time," he says as he sniffs the thermos again to confirm his suspicions.

Lynn's hands began to shake, and in her most sobering tone, she asks, "There was alcohol in there?"

"He didn't tell you?"

Lynn tries to recall, but between the fever and shock she just received, she couldn't her senses as screwed up as they are or maybe her exhaustion combined with her own inattentiveness, she couldn't tell; at least that's what Lynn is trying to tell herself, but she knows that she wouldn't have made that mistake.

"I drank…"

She grabs the thermos from Francisco and looks inside; it's all gone and she didn't even stop herself, she just drank it all like a damn fool.

Lynn begins to hyperventilate and she yells in frustration; shocking Francisco as she throws the thermos to the floor.

He places a hand on her shoulder, "Lynn, are you okay?"

"No, I'm not okay! I can't believe that bastard didn't tell me!" she yells with tears in her eyes.

"Lynn, calm down–"

"No! You don't know what I lost, how hard it's going to be to start over, so don't tell me the calm down!"

Francisco stays quiet. He sees the pained look on her face before pulling het into his arms to comfort her. He has no idea what's bothering her, but based on the yelling how hard she is punching the bed; she's probably not in the best mood to tell him.

"It's okay…we– I can help you," he assures her as she stops thrashing and cries into his jacket.

* * *

"_Do you want to know why I did it?" Lynn asks as she stares up at the ceiling. "I just wanted to shut off everything…school…my crappy love life…my brain. I wanted to not feel as intensely…not feel like I couldn't stop…probably didn't help that I was so quiet emotionally…"_

_Leni isn't sure what Lynn is talking about, but she nods and gives her sister a sympathetic smile. She's sure that her younger sister doesn't tell her much since she's always running around the Midwest, but she can believe that Lynn probably kept quiet to keep others from asking too much._

"_Are you sure that you don't want our help? We can probably–"_

"_Leni," the younger sister interrupts, "I've got it. I can do it. I just gotta get cleaned up and get rid of everything in the apartment that can get me back to drinking and I'll be fine!"_

_The older sister nods, despite there being nothing else that Lynn can clean up. Leni spent her whole vacation cleaning the apartment, throwing away glass bottles and helping take care of Lynn through her weird symptoms._

_Leni places a hand on Lynn's shoulder, "Are you sure that you don't want any help from us? We aren't going to judge you."_

_That's what Leni says, but Lynn is sure that someone will and she can't bear the thought of her family looking at her with pity as they think that they've ignored the very issues that she hides from them._

_Tears begin to form in Lynn's eyes as she imagines everyone's disappointment, she tries as hard as she can to fight it, but she is happy to just get the weight off of her chest, "I'll be fine," she says as she turns her head away from Leni, "besides I can handle myself, I've got a lead on a job as a little league coach, and I'll pay you back for this week."_

"_You don't have to do that," Leni assures her._

"_Yes I do! I can't think that I've gotten away with anything; I have to pay my debts."_

_Leni nods her head, "Okay, and don't feel bad about my vacation. I wanted to spend time with family and I did."_

_Lynn knows that Leni is a bit disappointed; after all, she can't imagine that her sister is fine with the idea of taking care of her sick sister over relaxing, although knowing Leni, maybe she is telling the truth. _

"_So this has happened before?" Leni asks._

_Lynn is quiet as she nods her head, "I was doing pretty good until Pop-Pop died after Bud's funeral…"_

_She doesn't want to relive the memory; it was bad enough that she was tempted after walking into Bud's empty house, but Pop-Pop dying shortly after, sent her over the edge especially after getting his note with those hunting begins to feel tears forming as she remembers the funeral and the shock of hearing that her beloved grandfather was dead._

" _I think I had about eight months…then it all went to pieces."_

_Leni remembers that day; the whole family was comforting each other, and even spoke of their favorite moments with their late grandfather, but Leni remembers Lynn stumbling through her eulogy trying to keep herself on track as she spoke. _

"_That was tough on everyone, and going to two different funerals isn't easy, but you don't have to do anything alone."_

"_Especially when there were only a few weeks apart…" Lynn says, focusing on the first thing Leni said. She begins to mouth out something, and while Leni notices, she decides not to ask; letting Lynn have her private moment. _

_Lynn turns to Leni, "I'm getting help, but please keep it between the two of us," she begs._

_The older sister, to her dismay, agrees._

"_Do you want to go get something to eat? I'm hungry and craving something really sweet, my treat," she offers with a smile on her face._

_Leni smiles, "Okay, let's go."_

* * *

Francisco holds onto Lynn. He can feel her slightly shaking in his arms, but for the last couple of hours she hasn't said a thing. He opens his mouth to say something, but he isn't sure what he could say to remedy the situation.

"So many days…gone," she declares.

He isn't sure what she meant by that, and he asks, "How many?"

"Who cares…" Lynn says in a defeated tone.

She does, and Francisco knows it.

"Lynn, you can tell me what happened, you know that, right?"

She knows, but she doesn't like opening up about this. He knows that she hates showing vulnerability, but she knows that if she is ever going to move forward, she has to tell him the truth.

"I was nineteen…I was lost…and I didn't…think that…anyone could help…" Tears are beginning to form in her eyes. "I would have had…1736 days…you know that that sounds longer than four years, eight months, and twenty-nine days."

"It does…but why are those days so important?"

Lynn is silent. She takes a deep breath and says, "That's how long I've been sober for."

There. She finally said it, to the first person who never confronted her or accused her or anything; he is the first person who she chose to tell about this, instead of having someone else find out on their own.

Rather than asking anything, Francisco stays quiet and continues to hold her. Looking back, it makes sense for why she would actively avoid alcohol; before, he just took her responses at face value and missed the true reason behind her words.

"Everyone was so happy and that's when I fell…"

He isn't sure what she meant by that, "Umm…what happened?"

"Lori got engaged. Everyone was beginning to work hard on making her big day special…and I just stayed quiet instead. I was falling apart, but stayed quiet for everyone else," Lynn looks through her pockets and pulls out her driver's license, "I used to have a fake one that my friend made for me, you know, the one from Bryt Solutions. I owe him so much."

He is confused, "Why would you owe the guy that made it easier for you to get alcohol?"

She thinks about her words carefully, "Because I have no idea how much further I would have sunk in desperation to get a hold of a drink."

The memories begin to come back to Lynn; the late nights with random people, the vomiting, the lying, or waking up in random locations without any idea of how she got there; she hates being able to remember those snippets of her life, because they remind her why she missed out on so much good in her life, by being stuck in the bad.

"What…made you decide to quit?"

"The first time, because I was jealous of how well my friends were doing and I wanted to do well too, the second time because I didn't want to be a quitter, and the third time…because Raffaelina saw me in church and took me to Romano's."

Francisco remembers Martino mentioning church a while back, "What were you doing there?"

She turns away, "I was just hoping to get a little sip of wine. I didn't know that it is Easter though, so when I saw all those people with their families…I sort of chickened out. I couldn't go through with it, so I sat there when after the sermon was over. Raffaelina saw me and I don't know why she cared, but she did and she invited me back to the deli to get something to eat."

"That was really nice of her," Francisco says.

"I know…and she kept inviting me, heck, she didn't even let me leave until I talked with her; it felt nice to talk to someone and not worry about disappointing them. I figured then that she wouldn't care what I did or why and she wouldn't blame herself, so it was a little easier to spill my guts to her. After that, she told me to go back every Sunday and talk. I didn't know why, and I probably could have lied, but I guess I liked the talks and the attention, so I returned every week."

Francisco nods head as he listens to her, as he tries to piece together other hints that she probably gave but missed.

"Are you getting help?" he asks, hoping that it isn't just Raffaelina and her family helping Lynn through this ordeal.

"Haven't you been listening?! Of course I am! I go to those talks every Sunday, listen!"

"I meant, never mind…is that why you swam out a few nights ago?"

Lynn nods, "Yeah…I needed good luck to keep going."

Francisco silently sighs; swimming in a near frozen lake isn't going to do her any good with keeping the temptation away, but he knows that there's no point in questioning Lynn's superstitious beliefs.

"You know, it feels nice to tell someone…can you keep it a secret though?"

"Why?" he asks, confused by the request.

"I'd rather tell people myself…" she says before muttering under her breath.

Francisco stays quiet, but wonders what she means by her siblings knowing. As far as he was concerned, no one treated her differently during the family's get-togethers, but he doesn't know when they could have found out.

Rather than ask questions that might upset her, he gives her a kiss on her forehead, "I promise."

* * *

**Finally! After little hints since the first chapter, I finally got to the chapter where Lynn reveals her secret; which was never even a secret in the original rendition. The only reason alcoholism got brought up was because of someone's comment about how they saw Lynn growing up to be an alcoholic and, I thought about how it's a nice little self-conflict to add; so thank you for the idea random deviantart commentor.**

**Thank you, readers, until next time.**


	33. Romance and Hockeytown

Lynn runs through the front door, "Woo! That was a great run! Err– walk in your case."

Francisco slowly walks behind her; his heart is pounding after Lynn forced him to speed walk multiple times around the block, and while he doesn't mind being supportive as she exercises to cope with her sobriety after her 'relapse', he is getting annoyed with how far she is taking it. Every morning, they wake up early to go on runs, followed by afternoons at the gym, and cooling down with a walk after dinner; again, he doesn't mind, he just wants to be able to slow down for a bit after doing the regimen every day since his birthday.

He stumbles past her and crashes onto the couch. He talks into the cushions, but Lynn cannot figure out what he's trying to say.

"What was that?" she asks.

He continues to talk into the cushion, until Lynn turns him over, "I said, I'm tired and I just want to watch the game."

"You're in luck, I think it's just starting," Lynn happily tells him, as she turns on the tv to a hockey game.

She squeezes onto the couch next to him; forcing him further back into the cushions in the process, "What are you doing?" he asks.

"Watching the game," she tells him, "It looks it's gonna be a good one."

Francisco looks over Lynn, who is too busy staring at the game; he doesn't mind having her next to him, but both of them laying down leaves them with very little room on the couch.

"Do you mind moving a bit back? I'm about to fall off the couch," Lynn says.

"I don't have any room to move back," he tells her.

"Sure you do," she says, as she forces him further into the couch, "See! Now I don't have to worry about falling."

Francisco stays quiet; he tries to concentrate on the game, but having Lynn as close and she is, is making the task harder. A beer commercial comes onto the screen and he immediately changes the channel. Ever since her brief relapse, which he claims doesn't break her sobriety streak; Francisco has made attempts to keep her away from temptation.

"You know I don't mind see a beer commercial, right? I mean, I love sports, I'm used to see a commercial here and there."

"Just in case."

She turns towards him and buries herself in his chest. She mumbles something that Francisco cannot hear. Lynn is happy that he's as supportive and non-judgmental as he is, but she is a little annoyed that he believes that everything is going to get her to jump off the wagon and start drinking again.

Like he said before, _'It was just an accident; you didn't know you were drinking, so you didn't choose to. That shouldn't count, right?'_

"You're getting stronger…" she says.

"What?"

"All that exercise, it's been good for you too."

He wasn't in bad shape, but they haven't been going to the gym as often since she started her job at the restaurant. However, over the last couple of weeks, she's been pushing him to get back into fighting shape, and he has been getting stronger, even if he does still move like a glacier.

Lynn wraps her arms around him as best as she can, pulls him close and listens to his heart beat as he caresses her back.

* * *

_Francisco pulls up next to her, "Do you want a ride?" _

_Lynn looks around for Mary, "Is your date over already?"_

_She knows that it's not early, but she finds it difficult to believe that he's available to offer her a ride on Valentine's Day; especially since neither one is near their home. _

"_It's a long story. C'mon! I'll give you a ride," he offers her._

_Lynn shrugs her shoulders, and places her gear in the truck bed before hopping in. The two teens are quiet, until she spots a cup of hot chocolate in the drink holder._

"_Are you going to drink that?" she asks, pointing at the drink._

"_Go ahead."_

_She takes the drink and happily sips on the once hot beverage, "So, how'd your date go?"_

"_Fine…"_

_That isn't the answer that she's expecting. She knows that Francisco isn't the type to gush over romance junk like Bobby, but after seeing some of her sister's dates, she assumed that maybe he would have more to say than just one word._

"_Did she like the restaurant?"_

"_I think she did."_

_Lynn is still hoping for more information; a few days ago, he was worried since he didn't have an idea of what he was going to do for Valentine's Day, and while he didn't remember then, he looked relieved when his plans were covered._

"_Did you like the Valentine's meal that my dad made?"_

"_It was really good," he complimented, "although I think your dad went a little overboard with the heart decorations everywhere."_

_Lynn laughs, "Yeah, I think that it was Lola and Lily's idea to do that."_

_Francisco tries to remember, "They're the twins, right?"_

"_You're one for two," Lynn flatly says. "How have we been friends for years, and you still don't know my sisters' names?"_

_He shrugs his shoulders, "I don't see them that often, cut me some slack."_

"_No!" she jokingly says. "I learned the names of your family members."_

"_That isn't the same! There are only five of us versus your thirteen; of course it's easy for you to learn my family."_

_Lynn taps her fingers, "I just hear excuses," she looks out the window, "Are you heading straight home?"_

_Francisco isn't sure; there isn't anything to do at home, but he knows that as soon as he walks through the door, someone is going to ask how 'practice' went. He figures that it might be easier to just come home a little later and pretend to be out with his teammates._

"_Not really. Do you have something in mind?"_

_Lynn notices a frozen lake and quickly turns to him, "Do you have your skates with you?"_

* * *

Elena looks through her phone as she researches the restaurant that she and her friends are going for their group date next week. Unlike her mom, her dad has no idea about the group date that she and her friends agreed on for Valentine's Day. Luckily at the moment, he and Lynn are out at the gym, which she declined to go under the guise of studying; after the last couple of weekends, Elena has learned that exercising with Lynn is a hell that she doesn't plan on repeating twice in a row.

She tries to think of what she'll say to him, "Dad, I know that it's a little last minute, but my friends invited me to a sleepover this weekend. No, I probably shouldn't lie. Let's see…dad, you know that test that I've been studying for, it's coming up and I want to use the weekend to prepare. No, that's still lying, sort of…"

Elena looks outside and notices Jackson taking a broom at the smallicicles hanging from the edge of his house. She figures that maybe the older man would know the best way to talk to her dad, and she heads outside to speak with him.

"Good afternoon, Jackson," Elena greets.

The older man turns around, "Good afternoon, young De Los Reyes, how are you doing today?"

"I'm fine," she says as she approaches the gate, "Can I ask you something? Do you think that my dad would freak out if I told him that I'm going on a date?"

Jackson is a little surprised by her question; while he understands the girl's concern, he doesn't imagine Francisco to be so old-fashioned that he's against his own daughter dating.

"I don't think so, as long as you think of what could make him worry and have answers to his questions thus assuring him that you'll be safe, and I believe that he'll be okay with it."

Elena sighs in relief, "Thanks, I was sort of afraid of that he would say no without listening."

Jackson nods, "My pleasure, young neighbor."

"While I have you here, can I ask you something," she pulls out her phone, and shows her a photo of a potential date outfit, "What do you think, Jackson?" Elena asks as she presents him with photos of two different outfits. "Which is the better option?"

Jackson looks at her, "Are you sure that you want me to help? Wouldn't your mother be a bigger help for preparing for your first date?"

She takes the phone back, "I already asked her. When I started, I had seven different outfits and she helped me narrow it down to two. Now, I was hoping that you could help me narrow it down to one."

"What about Lynn?"

Elena turns to her house and sees Lynn, who is running into the kitchen, messy and covered in sweat stains, "I don't think that her sense of fashion will…match what I'm looking for."

"I understand," assures the older man, who is also looking at Lynn through the window. "Try the first outfit; it should work regardless of where you and your date go." He notices a winded Francisco, hunched over the sink, "I see your dad is home."

Elena looks over at her dad and sighs, "I guess I should probably go tell him. Thanks Jackson."

Francisco is guzzling down a sports drink, while Lynn gives him some encouraging words, "See, you were able to squeeze in a run, and don't worry; we'll get your truck later."

He nods his head, "Fine…but next time…we walk…" he says in-between breaths. "Elena!" he calls out to the house, "we're home!"

The girl opens the door, "I didn't hear you come back."

"I thought that it would be a good idea to get in a quick run after our workout," Lynn says, "when your finish taking your test next week, you gotta join us."

Noticing her dad's tired face, Elena slowly nods her head, "Uh…sure…assuming I don't get any other assignments or projects," she says in an effort to give herself an out next weekend. "Speaking of next week, my friends are going on a group date for Valentine's Day. There's going to be six of us–"

"Six couples?" Lynn interrupts.

"No, three couples. The date is next week, but it is on Saturday, and I don't know what time we'll be back–"

"Well I doubt that it'll be _that_ late, considering that you guys are like twelve," Lynn interrupts again.

Francisco and Elena are clearly annoyed at Lynn's interruptions and he tells her, "Let Elena finish and then you can ask what you want."

"Fine," Lynn says, annoyed at his attitude, "I was just trying to get some more info."

"Anyway, I figured since my friends live closer to my house and the group date is on Saturday, and I still have a test to study for, I might be better off staying with mom this weekend."

The only thing Francisco is able to say is, "Oh…I see…"

He stays quiet as he tries to think of what to say; he figures that he can probably pick her up regardless of the time, and studying isn't difficult, although Caroline and Andrew can provide better help than he can.

"Good for you, hope you and your friends have fun," Lynn says before Francisco is able to say anything.

Francisco looks over at Lynn; he doesn't appreciate her responding to something that doesn't involve her, but she is giving Elena the go-ahead, "Have you asked your mom?"

"Yeah, she said I could go if you were okay with it."

He looks at her and sighs, "Okay, you can go…I guess I'll see you in two weeks."

Elena gives him a hug. She can tell that he's upset that she isn't going to be here next week, but it's a one-time thing, and he has Lynn around to keep him company.

Francisco returns the gesture, "Go wash up, we have to pick up my truck around the corner and then we're going out for lunch."

When Elena is gone, Francisco whispers to Lynn, "What was that?"

"What?" she asks in the same whisper.

"Why did you tell her that she could go?"

"I didn't say that."

"You said, 'hope you and your friends have fun', Lynn, she didn't ask _you_, she asked _me_, so don't butt in."

Lynn scowls. He's never brought this issue up before, and while she hasn't intruded on Francisco's parenting in the past, she doesn't appreciate the tone he gave her.

"You could have said no if you really didn't want her to go," she argues back.

Francisco stays quiet as she walks away from him.

* * *

_Francisco looks at the lake; ice is formed on top, but the weather today was warmer than usual and there aren't many people passing by them to notice should anything happen._

_Lynn, laced up and ready to skate, gets onto the ice, "C'mon! Don't tell me you've never skated on a lake before!" she jokes._

"_I have," he claims, but he hasn't in recent history._

_The only times that he's able to skate on a frozen lake is when he tells his parents that he's not doing so, as both of them are afraid that he'll fall and freeze to death if no one is keeping an eye on him._

"_Then hurry up," she tells him. She notices that he's careful with his footing, she skates towards him and takes his hand, "You're going to fine; it's been freezing all week."_

"_And I'm telling you that I'm not worried. I just don't step onto ice all willy-nilly like you."_

_She sticks out her tongue. She taps on the ice with the blade of her skate, "See, nothing. Now let's race before it gets too dark!"_

_Francisco takes a deep breath and skates past her; he calls out to her, "Hurry up, slowpoke!"_

"_Oh, it's on!" she declares as she heads towards him._

_Unlike most of her usual competition, he's faster, but that's expected when she's usually competing against other girls. However, Lynn refuses to let him get the upper hand, she pushes herself to make sure that he doesn't get away from her grasp and before he reaches the end of the lake, she manages to catch up to him, but isn't able to slow down in time before crashing into him._

_The two fall into the snow and Lynn declares, "I win!" as she looks down on him._

_Francisco looks up at her and laughs, "No, I won. I'm the one touching the snow, meaning my body crossed the lake first."_

_Lynn looks towards where Francisco parked his truck, "First one across wins, go!" she says before letting him get to his feet._

"_I swear she's stubborn," he says as he takes on a leisurely pace, knowing that she'll stop soon enough._

_When Lynn turns around, she notices that he's not even trying; he's just skating in a little part of the lake like in those old-timey cartoons. _

"_What the…" she heads back towards him, "What are you doing? Why aren't you trying to catch up to me?"_

_Francisco shrugs his shoulders, "I don't know," he says feigning innocence. He knows what he's doing; without a competition, Lynn won't have fun, and thus she won't bother trying._

"_So you just want to skate around like this? Do you have any more hockey gear?"_

_He shakes his head; he does, but he left behind most of his padding and he's sure that Lynn's won't be enough to cover his body, so he'd rather not risk it, "I'm fine just skating around like this."_

_Lynn sighs, "But it's boring."_

_He skates around her, "Only if you have that attitude."_

"_What? You don't think I can have fun doing…this," she says pointing to him gliding on the ice._

_A light bulb goes off in Francisco's head, "I don't think you can, I mean, you are the definition of jittery–"_

"_Oh yeah! Well I'll show you!" she declares before beginning to elegantly skate on the ice._

_Francisco is surprised, by her gentle movements that made him think that she was flying on the ice. He stops skating and just stares at her, as she seemingly performs a figure skating routine in front of him. _

_He seems to be in a trance until Lynn skates over to him and snaps her fingers in front of him, "Close your mouth or you're gonna add another inch of ice to the lake." _

* * *

Lynn looks through the mail and smiles as she sees a certain letter that she has been waiting for, "About time!" She runs into the house and loudly calls out, "Francisco! I've got a surprise for you!"

He walks out of their bedroom, "It's not weird pills from Lisa that let you forego sleep, is it?"

She scoffs, "No! Lisa already told me that it's a terrible idea after her energy drink screwed with Lily's heart for a few weeks. No, I mean, look what I've got!" she presents him with the envelope, "Hockey tickets for Valentine's Day! What do you think? You, me, and the Red Wings giving hell to the Senators, sounds fun, right?"

It isn't how he imagines spending Valentine's Day, but it does sound nice to do something that they both enjoy, especially since they'll be alone all weekend, "Yeah, it does," he agrees.

"It's an early game, so we can still squeeze in some fun in the city," she teases him.

Francisco lets out a chuckle, "I would have been fine with just the game and some souvenirs, but why not? But no exercising that day," he tells her in a jokingly firm voice.

Lynn rolls her eyes, "Fine, but we're gonna do the night right, so don't tell me that you can't or some other excuse."

"Deal," he agrees with a kiss to her cheek.

Come Saturday, Lynn goes through her closet and grabs her lucky Red Wings sweater covered in blood and mustard stains and gets ready for their fun night out in the city.

"Are you ready to–" Francisco looks at her sweater, "Holy…Lynn, why don't you wash that sweater? It's covered in blood, and is long overdue for a trip to the washer."

"What?! No way! It's my lucky sweater! I only wear it when I go to a game, especially after I took a hockey puck to the nose, which by the way hurts like hell, but I got a souvenir game puck and the Red Wings got a W out of it," she says happily. "So it's staying," she says seriously.

"Fine," he tells her, figuring that there's no winning with her when it comes to superstitions, "let me grab my coat and my boots so we can head out."

Lynn looks at the red numbers on the alarm clock, "This early? But the game doesn't start for three more hours."

"Traffic, parking, snacks, bathroom, and maybe some souvenirs, and…" he mutters the last part, which Lynn can't hear, but he is making a good point, so she finishes getting ready.

The two head out to the truck. Francisco turns on the truck, "Do you have the game tickets?" he asks, before they head out.

"Of course!" Lynn taps her coat pocket confidently,"I have…them…right…where the hell are they?" she asks herself as she looks around her seat. She steps out of the truck and looks behind her seat to search for the envelope. "I know I had them just now!"

"We have plenty of–"

"I'll find them!" she declares as she runs back into the house.

"…time," he says to himself, before remembering what happens when Lynn loses something. He lowers the window, "Don't make a mess!" he yells, but she quickly returns to the truck with the tickets in hand.

Francisco pulls out of the driveway. Despite telling Lynn that he wants to get to the arena early, the couple has plenty of time before the game begins, and he wants to see Elena off before she goes on her date. He doesn't think of himself as overly cautious, but when the only information he has on her date is 'just a boy from school', he wants to see who said boy is.

Lynn looks back and notices that he missed the turn to head into the city, "Where are you going? You missed the turn."

"We have plenty of time before the game starts–"

"But what about parking?! I doubt you want to walk far if it snows while we were watching the game." Francisco points to the glove compartment. Lynn looks inside and notices a handicap placard, "Are you serious?! You have one of these, why haven't we ever used it?"

"Because I don't need it as much as–"

"So all those times we could have parked closer and you never bothered to pull this out?"

"I can still walk long distances well enough; I'm not going to take the spot of someone who really needs it. Look, I just want to see who Elena is going out with and then we can go to the game."

Lynn recalls that Elena mentioned that her date is a classmate, but knowing Francisco, he probably wanted more information than just that, so she's willing to cut him a little slack.

"Fine, but we better not be late for the game," she says in a huff.

He shows her his watch, "I'll set my watch when we get to Caroline's and then we can go with plenty of time to spare, I promise."

Lynn pouts, "Fine."

When they arrive in Huntington Oaks, the couple steps out of the truck and knock on Caroline's door; when she answers, Caroline is surprised to see Francisco and Lynn, "Hello."

Lynn sets her phone's alarm, "Hey! How's it going?"

"Fine?" Caroline says, confused by the couple's appearance on her front door. She hesitantly invites them in, "Come in."

Andrew sees the couple and is surprised by their unexpected arrival, but he invites them into the living room, "Nice you see you again, Lynn, Francisco."

Lynn takes a seat on the couch, "Nice to see you too."The two watch as Francisco and Caroline walk towards the kitchen ignoring the two adults in the living room, "Where are they going?"

Andrew takes a seat on the seat across from her, "Caroline was helping Elena get ready for her date; I don't know what Francisco is doing though."

She sighs, "I swear he's being paranoid, she's twelve and going on a group date, it's not like she's going to join a cult." Lynn taps her feet trying to think of something to say, "Did Elena tell you much about her date?"

Andrew shakes his head, "No much, but to be fair, when it comes to Elena, Caroline usually does most of the parenting."

"You too? I thought I was the only one," she says, somewhat relieved that someone else is going through the same thing.

"I get that it's a date, and they've mostly been going over makeup and outfits, but it's not like I can't give Elena advice," he leans in a little closer, "between you and me though, I think that Caroline was hoping that Francisco would have said no to the date; she's been stressing out all week."

Lynn nods her head, "He's been the same way. I think he's been texting Carolinetrying to find out more about this date."

"Why didn't he just ask Elena?"

Lynn shrugs her shoulders, "I don't know. I just think that he's being overprotective, but it's not like you guys can't do something in case she gets in trouble."

"Can't blame them, I guess."

Andrew understands their worry, but he thinks that Elena can handle herself, despite Caroline and Francisco's fears. Luckily, Lynn understands what he was trying to tell his wife for the last couple of days.

"Do you normally get left out of big things like this?" she asks, "I mean, you're her stepdad, but does Caroline go to Francisco instead of you?"

"Just the big things…"

Lynn tries to remember her preteen years, this is when things are going to start changing and chances are that both of them are going to be put to the side as Francisco and Caroline parent their daughter.

Rather than make the visit any more awkward than it already is, she asks, "Would it be weird if I get your phone number? I get the feeling that we're both gonna be stuck with some nervous wrecks, and it might help to know what's going on without trying to translate Francisco's grunts."

Andrew laughs, "Yeah, I'll probably need yours too, so I don't worry about Caroline's one word responses."

* * *

_Francisco shakes his head, "Lynn, I didn't know you knew how to figure skate?"_

_She blushes and turns away from him, "It was a New Year's resolution, I had to do it to go to King Henry's All You Can Eat Buffet."_

_He stares down at the floor, "I think you did a great job."_

"_Shut up," she bashfully says. Lynn can feel her heart pounding after the compliment, but she tells herself to not get her hopes up, he's still with another girl and she had to remember what she told herself all those years ago._

_There is an awkward silence between the two, until Francisco speaks up, "Do you want to get outta here? I was thinking that maybe you might want to get some better chocolate."_

_Lynn nods her head and the two skate back towards the truck. When the two get in, Francisco drives and she looks around as Francisco drives towards the city, "Where are we going?"_

"_There's a dollar store that my mom and I used to go to when I was a kid and I remember that they always put their holiday candy on sale the day of, so I thought that we should get some."_

_The sound of discounted chocolates tempts Lynn, "So why are we going into the city? There are plenty of places to go near Royal Woods."_

"_I know, but my mom loved going into the city instead. Honestly, I don't think that she ever loved the idea of leaving such a large city for a place as small as Royal Woods, but my dad wanted to live in a safer place and close to his job. Anyway, my mom liked coming here for the holiday stuff that she would send our cousins back in Mexico."_

_It isn't often that Francisco talks about his family, normally his conversations consist of school and sports, so it's a novelty to hear him speak about a childhood memory. _

_The two teens walk into the store, where Lynn notices few patrons perusing down the aisles and a bored cashier standing by the register. Francisco points to the holiday aisle and a variety of items that are already placed on discount._

_Lynn runs ahead, and Francisco grabs a basket to give her so that she can place, what he presumes to be armfuls of chocolate. She notices him with the basket and begins dunking her favorite chocolates into the basket; imitating a crowd's roar every time she made a 'slam dunk'._

_She places a large novelty hat on him and hands him a pair of goofy sunglasses, "Put these on."_

"_Why?"_

"_Because," she says, as she grabs a light-up antenna headband and a giant flower. She pulls out her camera, "Say cheese."_

"_No way," he says moving away from the camera's sight line._

"_Oh c'mon! I promise I won't post it, it'll just be for us," she says, as she pulls out her famous puppy-dog eyes._

_His cheeks turn red, knowing that he can't resist those eyes, "Fine…"_

_Lynn wraps her arm around his shoulder, pulling him down to her height, "C'mon! Smile! This is gonna be a fun photo one day."_

_He sighs, "Give me one minute," he tells her. Francisco grabs a long feathered pen, and hides it from her. He stands next to her, "Smile."_

_She complies, and he pulls out the feather to tickle her. Lynn begins laughing, accidentally knocking over items as she tries to get the pen away from him._

_A loud crashing sound grabs the attention of the cashier, who immediately kicks them out before they are able to buy their candy. _

_Lynn is upset that they weren't able to buy the candy, but Francisco figures that there is a way to cheer her up, "Sorry about that…you know," he starts, "if we take a slightly longer route, we're near Comerica Park, do you want to go see the tiger statue?"_

_He didn't have to ask her twice, "Yeah! Let's go!" she says, turning on his truck for him._

* * *

As the two step out of the truck, Lynn looks over at Francisco and sees that he's checking his phone for messages from Elena; the girl promised him that she would text when she arrives at the restaurant and when she arrives at home.

"She's a smart girl; she isn't going to forget to text you," Lynn tries to assure him.

Francisco puts his phone away. He is going to be strong and not fixate on this, but soon he gets a picture message from Caroline of Elena with the boy that she's going out with. When they talked earlier today, his daughter told him some more about him, but Francisco's mind still wasn't put at ease after hearing that he is in her art class and likes reading poetry; it made him think that he was just a boy that liked to woo girls with his fancy language skills.

As the couple gets ready for the game, he goes back to staring at his phone; even placing it in his pocket did him no good as he felt phantom vibrations every few minutes.

In the mean time, this isn't how Lynn envisioned Valentine's Day playing out, but she is going to cut him some slack because Elena was on her first date. Lynn remembers what her dad was like when Lori started dating, and she can imagine that the same ideas are popping into Francisco's head.

"Are you worried about Elena?"

She knows the answer, but she wants to get a conversation started between the two. He's been nervous all day, and she understands, but he needs to chill out; if he's freaking out about his twelve-year-old daughter on her first group date, he going to go nuts as she gets older.

"A little…"

"But…?" she asks, waiting to see if there is more.

"But, what? It's the truth."

"Well good. You know, I thought that you'd be freaking out more about Elena going out on her first date."

Francisco bites the inside of his cheek, "I'm the right amount of nervous for a father who's worried about his daughter going out on her first date."

"I bet. I saw how my dad would get when any of us brought dates over. Luckily, he chilled out when he got to the younger ones, but what parent isn't naturally a little nervous to see their kids grow up."

It isn't even just seeing Elena grow up. As Francisco remembers the little girl that would draw on walls or sweetly call out for him when she was scared or create little stories with her stuffed animals on the floor, he is also reminded that he is getting older too. He wasn't a twenty-something-year-old, but a man in his mid-thirties slowly approaching forty with each passing day.

"I guess I was lucky, I didn't start dating until college and by that point my dad had some experience under his belt, although he still freaked out. I mean, I can't blame him, I was the first one to bring home an older date. Look, she's going to be fine, and if anything happens; we'll be there for her."

He cracks a smile, "Knowing you, we'll be there before she wonders where we are."

Lynn laughs in agreement. She places her hand on his knee, "Look, it's not going to get easier, trust me, I saw my dad break down with each and every one of us whenever we crossed a major milestone, but she has you and Caroline and Andrew, you guys are going to make that she's okay."

He takes a deep breath and nods his head, "Okay…" he says; deciding that he's not going to ruin any more of their date.

* * *

_Francisco pulls up in front of Lynn's house, "You know, today didn't start off so great–"_

"_Because you remembered that we have a project due?"_

"_That and my date didn't turn out so well, I was pretty crappy to Mary and I think that maybe it's a sign."_

_He doesn't normally believe in such things, but he's aware that he isn't as interested in her as he thought. He only agreed to go out with her because he didn't want to hurt her feelings at the time, but that doesn't do anyone any good._

_Lynn places a hand on his shoulder; she figured that his date probably didn't go well, and while she does have a chance to turn the tides in her favor, she can't do that; she has to remember that she doesn't want to risk her friendship with Francisco, and convincing him to let dump Mary isn't the best karma._

"_Are you gonna be okay?"_

_He nods his head, "I think so, what do you think I should do?"_

_She takes her hand off of him, "Uh…I don't know. I'm not the romance type."_

"_I figured that," he tells her. "I guess I'll figure it out. Who knows? By tomorrow things can either be good or bad…"_

_Lynn punches him in the arm, "Don't be that way! You'll be fine. The worst thing that can happen is that destroys your gear."_

_He feigns pain, "Ouch! That's the worst."_

"_I don't know," she shrugs her shoulders, "I'm just guessing, all I know about romance comes from my parents and the Dream Boat."_

_He sticks his tongue out, "How can you watch that scripted junk?"_

_She scowls, "This coming from the guy who likes watching Transport Titans?"_

_The two laugh, and Lynn get out of the truck, "Thanks for the ride, I appreciate it, buddy."_

"_You're welcome," Francisco says._

_As he watches Lynn walk back to her house, Francisco can't help but stare at her; his night with her was far more enjoyable than it was when he worried about making Mary jealous. He can feel his heart pounding, but he shakes his head; knowing full well that Lynn would never want a relationship with him. _

* * *

As the two walk out of the arena, they notice the large crowd of people walking towards their vehicles; they know that they might be stuck waiting to get out of the parking lot for a long time, before Lynn remembers how close they are to the baseball stadium.

She begins to walk towards the exit, when Francisco calls it to her, "Lynn! Where are you going?"

"To the ball park! We're right here, and it beats sitting around waiting for the crowd to die down," she reasons.

Francisco looks around, the vehicles are being to line up around the exit and he knows that neither one is looking forward to waiting around, so if a quick trip across the street is all it takes to make her happy, he'll go along with it.

"Wait for me!" he tells her, as he walks to catch up her.

Lynn runs towards him and takes his hand as they walk to the baseball stadium. When they arrive at the stadium, she leads him towards the fifteen foot tiger statue, "Remember when we were kids?"

He smiles, "Alright, let me get my camera out," he tells her.

The two pose with the statue and Francisco snaps the photo. He can't recall if it's the same pose that they made nearly twenty years ago, but he can probably look for it on his computer later.

He puts his phone away and looks for Lynn, who is walking around the statue, "Are you trying to climb it?"

"I think I can do it, and think of the photo!" she says looking at the tiger's head.

"I'm thinking of the fall," he says looking down at the ground.

"You're such a downer," she complains.

"How about we do something else? The RiverWalk is pretty close, do you want to see that?" he knows that it's going to probably have a crowd, but it seems like a nice place to spend their night, "There's a carousel and who knows, there might be some live music going on."

It beats her idea of walking to the nearby football stadium, "Okay, let's go."

"Not on foot," he clearly tells her.

"Fine, to the People Mover!"

"To my truck," he corrects.

She groans, "Okay, okay, I get it – no exercise today."

It isn't Lynn's ideal situation to be stuck in traffic, especially after a game, but luckily Francisco has made a habit of carrying a charger and a deck of playing cards so that she can at least entertain herself while they are able to get to the RiverWalk.

When they arrive, there is a crowd of people hanging around the plaza enjoying the night as they take strolls down the walkways, look out towards Windsor, or even enjoy the public art; Lynn, however, is interested in the carousel that Francisco tempted her with, as well as a bike ride and maybe a game of volleyball.

Unlike Lynn, Francisco prefers to slow down and enjoy some of the activities without worrying about what to do next; to him the RiverWalk isn't going anywhere and they can always come back whenever they want to do the next time.

For the next few hours, Lynn drags him around to whatever activity grabs her attention, and Francisco follows along until Lynn suddenly stops. She sniffs around and smells coney sauce and sausages in the air. She walks in the direction of a nearby restaurant, almost ignoring Francisco, "Hurry up! We could use something to warm us up."

Francisco tries to catch up, but his knee begins to shoot pain through his leg. He quietly pops a pill, and tries to catch up to Lynn, who is waiting for him by his truck.

"I'm coming, I'm coming," he says as he limps towards her, he grabs her hand and leads her to the order window. "How can you still be hungry? You ate two hotdogs and funnel cake at the game."

"Then we went to the baseball stadium, then ran around the Riverwalk, that's plenty of time for the food to have digested." She notices that he isn't too thrilled on the idea, "C'mon! We get some coney dogs and then we go home. Deal?"

He sighs, "Alright, but only two, I don't want you complaining all night and I doubt you want the stomachache."

"Geez, why don't I just not eat then?"

"That works for me," he says; having something else in mind for when they get home.

Surprised that he actually suggested not eating, Lynn walks in regardless, "Nice try, but you aren't winning this round."

"What round?" he asks himself, as he follows her inside.

After finishing their meals, they walk towards the truck, and Lynn brings up a proposition, "I'll race you to the truck."

"You're kidding, right? We still have a bit of a walk ahead of us–"

"I know, but I figured that we need to work off the food," Francisco is shaking his head, "Fine, we can walk, but as soon as I see the truck I'm running."

"Alright then," he says, knowing that regardless of what he says she's going to run anyway.

As he predicted, Lynn does run as soon as she sees the truck; it doesn't make Francisco walk faster, but he lets her go on ahead. He notices her running in place as she waits for him to open the truck, which he does when he gets close to her.

"About time!" she jokingly complains, "I thought that I was going to turn into summer when you got here."

The two get in the truck, "Well excuse me for not running around like a madman, we don't all have your energy."

She rolls her eyes, "Tell me about it," she says before taking off her sweater, "I'm getting hot in that thing."

Francisco turns to her and notices her in a tank top. He quickly turns his head and looks out at the road. He doesn't want to turn away, but he can silently curse cars for their inability to fully drive themselves. He can feel his heart pumping rapidly in his chest; Lynn made the evening fun despite the rocky start, and right now he has one thing is on his mind to thank her.

He takes a deep breath and clenches his calves as he drives them home.

The couple walks inside of the house and Lynn sheds the layers of warm clothing. Francisco heads strait to the kitchen with his bag in tow and pulls out some ice cream for the two to enjoy.

She opens the curtains and watches as the snow fall, "Good thing we got home when we did."

Francisco silently agrees, and gets a fire going to warm up the house, "I got some ice cream do you want some?"

Lynn is surprised considering that he was complaining about her being a glutton earlier, but a simple dessert does sound nice, "Sure," she says as she continues to watch the snow, "You know, this is one of those nights where you sort of wish that there was a full moon to shine on the freshly fallen snow."

Francisco brings over a bowl of vanilla ice cream for them to share and he rests his head on her shoulder as they look outside, "Will you settle for a new one instead?"

"No."

"Will some chocolate syrup make things better?"

When she hears the words 'chocolate syrup', she perks up and takes the bottle to pour over their ice cream.

"Do you mind if I close the blinds?"

"But I wanted to see the snow falling."

"And I'm hoping for a little bit of privacy."

Lynn scoffs, "Who's going to see us eating ice cream while watching snow next to a fireplace?"

"Jackson – now can you please close the curtains?"

"No."

"Jeez Lynn, can you take a hint? I'm trying to make this evening up to you by giving you a good night" he tells her, as he takes her hand in his and give her a chaste kiss.

She finally takes the hint and closes the curtains.

* * *

**In case you're curious, and to prove my eccentricity, I actually looked up the moon phases and weather to make things accurate. The weather was getting a little warmer after a few days below freezing in the Detroit area, and there is going to be new moon on Valentine's Day in 2037. I also looked at maps of the Detroit area, the stadiums really are that close to each other and so is their RiverWalk, and the Detroit People Mover is a thing**

**(I'm pretty sure Google thinks i'm going on a trip to Michigan after the research I do for the story)**

**Anyway, to answer the review question, I believe that there are a few reasons why the story isn't read more**

**1\. The first chapter isn't very strong. When I heard that 'Singled Out' was a Lynn romance episode, I wanted to beat the episode in case Francisco and Lynn did end up together in the end, so I rushed it. While, it did give me the kick in the pants to seriously write the story, it can be better, and I think that I got into the groove around chapter 5 or 7, and I am currently rewriting it to more modern standards**

**2\. Original characters aren't for everyone. I've been reading fanfiction since I was 14, and I've run into some bad OCs and some good ones, but it can be tough to want to give it a chance, especially since this story has a lot of OCs; most of the canon characters don't appear and I'm sure my OCs need work to be better characters**

**3\. The characters I chose to focus on and even the pairing may not be too popular. I looked through all the fanfiction on this site for the Loud House, and most focuses on Lincoln, Lori, and Luna; Lynn is in fourth place, which isn't bad, but t****he pairing, and especially Francisco, hasn't been touched on much in canon, so a character taking center stage that hasn't shown up since season 2 may not draw too many people. I started tinkering with this fanfiction when season 2 ended, and after working on creating conflicts and decent enough story, I might have come a bit too late**

**While, I know that my story isn't drawing a large crowd, I do have a consistent crowd that clicks on my story every week, and I thank them for doing so; I may not have the same amount of reviews or favorites or follows as other stories do, but I'm happy to have someone out there that cares to read my work, so again, thank you, everybody**


	34. Fear and Familiar Voices

Lisa glances up from her work after hearing a hissing sound. She gets up in an attempt to discover where the noise is coming from, but it immediately stops. After hearing only silence for short time, she sits back down, but is immediately interrupted by the hissing sound again and the sound of clanging.

The noise continues, and Lisa follows it to Francisco, who is dragging his feet in pain as he transports glassware. She examines his movements and notices how poorly he is moving, "Excuse me," Lisa interrupts, "but may I ask why you are currently employing improper biomechanics?"

"What? No, I'm fine," Francisco tries to assure her, but Lisa isn't convinced.

"Raise your leg," she commands.

He shakes his head and tries his best to walk as normally as possible without letting Lisa know that he is in pain, however, despite his best efforts, Lisa can still tell that he is injured. Rather than letting him continue to walking in pain, she calls another lab technician to finish Francisco's job.

Lisa grabs a chair, "Please sit," she instructs him.

"Lisa, I'm fine. Don't worry about me."

The scientist doesn't listen to him and forces him into the chair so that she can examine his leg to determine what is ailing him.

Francisco takes his leg back from her, "I'm fine, and I don't appreciate you grabbing my leg like that."

It has been five months since Lynn restarted their exercise regiment with added vigor and while she has been thriving, he has been doing poorly, especially when his knees and back are becoming increasingly more rigid. Regardless, he joins her, so that she's not alone.

Lisa watches him as he attempts to walk as if nothing is wrong with him, but she knows that he will soon drop the charade and reveal that he is struggling. She knows some details of how he got to his current physical state, but she didn't bother remembering an event that happened when she was a child.

When Francisco is sure that Lisa wasn't watching him, he leans against the wall in exhaustion. His heart is pounding and he's sure that he's going to pay for his little stunt, but the last thing he wants is for anyone at work to treat him like he's helpless.

He pulls out his medicine. He knows that is only been a short time since his last dose, but it was a smaller dose than usual, "I just gotta finish taking my usual dose, then I'll be fine."

Francisco takes a pill and breaks it in half to swallow dry, "Just a few more hours. I can do it. I don't want a damn repeat like last time," he angrily tells himself.

For the rest of the day, Francisco keeps an eye out for Lisa and any of the other staff, who may tell her that he is slowing down and attract her scientific curiosity. He figures that he will be able to endure for a few more hours and then he'll have the rest of the day to recuperate until he has to return to work.

* * *

_Lynn drinks from the bottle; she has been staring at her book for hours, but despite all that time, she doesn't feel as though any information has stuck. She reads to herself, it doesn't work; she out loud, and she is sure that she's misreading every other word in front of her._

_She groans; she should be used to it after so many years, but finals are still hell, especially when they're all on the same week, "You'd think the bastards would care to not put their tests around the same time," she mutters to herself before taking another drink._

_She knows that she probably shouldn't be drinking, but it makes her feel as though there is a little clarity in her mind, otherwise, she feels as though she'll do everything except study like she's supposed to. All throughout her time at the university, she has struggled to study; finding more joy in everything else, but regardless she had to do it in an effort to stay in school and play softball._

"_This was much easier when mom and dad were around…and my family…and the principal…and the counselor…and my friends…"_

_Lynn closes the book and grabs the bottle; she doesn't know how other students can sit down and study and have it actually work well for them. For the last couple of days, she has forgone class and decided to stay in her dorm to try and spend her day studying, but reading a chapter a day isn't helping, especially when she struggles reading the text._

"_I can do this," she tells herself. "I can do this…I have to do this…" she threatens herself as she picks up the textbook again._

_She reads the first paragraph and immediately turns the page before she is able to finish reading the first page. Lynn turns back and stares down at the page; she sees the words, but she isn't reading anything, only staring at the letters._

_She stares outside the window and looks down at the ground; despite there being no one, she still found it more interesting than her boring textbook, "I shouldn't have told Megan to take my sports balls," she complains to herself._

_During the test, she takes a seat and looks down at the papers in front of her; her head is throbbing and she feels like she wasted her time getting out of bed in the first place. However, Lynn knows that she can't miss this test, she already forgot to turn in plenty of assignments, and she'll need to do whatever she can to at least say she tried to do some work._

_The sound of the clock's second hand ticks away and takes Lynn's attention from the test and onto the blackboard in front of her; she wishes that she could have a ball to toss around, but those days were over, especially after her coach benched her over her abysmal grades._

_A teacher's aide walks past Lynn, "Eyes on your own paper."_

_Lynn looks up at the aide and then looks back down. The words on the page feel as though they are getting blurry; she feels sick, but she can't leave, not without at least trying to answer a question._

_The students all over the room begin making noises and it makes Lynn take her focus off of the test and look in the direction of the source. _

'_Do others struggle like this? Maybe, I can't be the only one…'_

_She rests her head on her desk and looks at her pencil, which she holds in the writing position by the first question._

'_How long has it been? It probably hasn't been that long, maybe five minutes…'_

_The professor announces, "Thirty more minutes."_

'_I wish I was back in my dorm…maybe trying to study a little more…or worrying…maybe a drink or two; that would definitely help out. I wouldn't have to hear every damn sound in this room. I mean, seriously?! Whose bright idea was it to make such a noisy room?! There's the vent, and the clock, and do the others have to make so much noise as they get up, they're like the chalk…what is chalk made of? Wait…didn't I have to do something?'_

_She lifts her face and notices the drool stained test, 'How much time do I have? I should probably try to answer something.'_

_Lynn randomly circles the multiple choice answers, but when she reaches the open-ended response questions; her mind completely blanks._

'_What is…What is…What is…' she shakes her head and tries again, 'Why can't I finish reading?! Let's try again. What is…What is…What is…What is…'_

_She tightly grips her pencil in frustration; she can barely read it without her attention wandering towards an eraser shaving the girl next to her left behind. Lynn swallows, but her mouth feels dry, 'I'm just gonna have to guess…' she tells herself, as she randomly starts writing words that she recently learned in her textbook._

"_Time's up," the professor declares._

_She sighs, and gets up to hand over her test. She didn't finish it, but hopefully luck is on her side and she answered the multiple choice questions well enough._

* * *

It is early morning when Francisco's back pain wakes him. He tries to take a deep breath, but just the movement itself begins to intensify his pain. He does his best to reach for his medicine, but he doubts that it can help at this point.

His heart begins to beat erratically and he feels tears forming in his eyes. He doesn't want to think about that day, he just wants to sleep and not go out and drive on the icy road.

Tears begin to fall, and he tries harder to grab his medicine, successfully reaches for it without waking Lynn. He opens the bottle and pulls out two pills. He shakes his head, but begins to hear an accented man's voice, _'No…I can't…'_ he breaks one of the pills in half and swallows it and a full pill, _'You'll be fi–'_

"Done…" he whispers to himself, before he places the broken pill back in the container.

His heart begins to calm down, when he begins to hear a familiar woman's voice, _'I thought you cared…you've had plenty of opportunities…'_

He quietly mutters to the voice, "I do…it just…"

The man's voice returns, _'It's not too bad right now…'_

"Yes, it is…" Francisco quietly told the voice.

The two voices go back and forth, with Francisco muttering to them, _'I think its best that I go…'_

"No…I can turn this around…"

The man's voice told him, _'Be careful…'_

"I will…"

'_I hope so…just remember–"_

"Francisco, wake up!" Lynn says as she shakes him. "Are you okay? You were muttering and shaking a lot."

His heart feels like its pounding as he wakes up and opens his eyes. He looks over at Lynn, who appears worried about him after his episode. He gets up and gave her a kiss on her forehead, "I think I was just sleeptalking or something. Just go back to bed; I'm going to get a glass of water."

"Do you want me to get for you instead?" she offers.

He shakes his head, and feels dizzy, "I can get it. Just go back to bed."

Francisco isn't convinced that she is going to sleep just yet, but there isn't much he can do until he gets back in bed. He gets up and slowly walks down the hallway; he can feel his head spinning and is sure that he's going to fall if he's not careful.

'_I feel sick…'_

The man's voice returns, _'Just a little more…we're almost there…'_

"Are we? It's so dark…"he responds to the voice.

'_You're going to be okay…'_ says the woman's voice.

"I hope so…" he whispers.

Francisco finally reaches the kitchen and looks around, "What was I here for again?" he asks himself.

'_Do you need water?' _asks the woman's voice.

"No…wait…maybe…" he can't remember anymore. Francisco looks around the kitchen, "I'm so tired…"

'_You're young…you can do it…'_

Francisco shakes his head, but is overwhelmed by the motion that he falls over. When his head makes impact with the floor, he screams at the top of his lungs as holds onto his head in hopes of soothing the pain. However, it is unbearable and begins to overtake him.

Lynn runs to the kitchen and looks at him with worry after hearing him scream, "Do you need your medicine?"

Francisco loudly asks, "Can you get me a cup of water?"

Lynn takes a hold of his head and moves it around, as if looking for something, but when she doesn't find what she wants; she lets him go and gets him a glass of water.

"Are you okay?" she asks

He nods his head, "Yeah, I don't know what happened…"

As far as Lynn knew, Francisco has never screamed with such pain in his voice, but it has been more common in the past few weeks and it has happened even years ago.

He drinks the water and they both head back to bed, "Maybe, I should take a break from the gym today," he suggests.

"Okay…" she says, a little disappointed that he won't be able to join her later today.

* * *

_Lynn stares at laptop; she is reading an email from the university warning her to meet with the Academic Review Committee after her second straight semester with a below average GPA. She had five days to respond, and she just remembered the email…two days after the deadline. She knows what's going to happen next; she's going to get kicked out of school and she has two options – go home and tell her family what happened or lie and leave the school after her 'graduation'._

_She can already imagine her dad bawling his eyes out just by telling him that she is getting kicked out of school, and she can imagine her other family members asking what happened to have caused her to go from the dean's list as a freshman to flunking out in her senior year._

_Lynn tries to open her mouth to think of what she would say to her family, but nothing seemed like a good idea; she can imagine then thinking how her reason was silly and that she could have gotten over it, but it's not that easy._

_She can feel tears form in her eyes as she thinks of everything that has led to her be where she is in her life, then she wonders, 'Who's got something going on? Is it Lucy? Maybe Lincoln, no wait, the twins! Are they almost sixteen? They're probably planning their birthday; it's a big one after all.'_

_She takes a deep breath, but she keeps thinking about how badly she's disappointing everyone by flunking out. Lynn can feel her hands shaking and her throat tightening as she tries to breathe; she can't tell them, she doesn't want to take a good moment and turn it bad because she couldn't succeed._

_Bryton looks over at Lynn, "Are you okay?"_

_She stares up at him and nods her head; Lynn tries to say something, but words couldn't come out of her mouth. She reaches over for a bottle of water and quickly takes a drink._

"_What did the school say?" asks Megan._

"_I, uh, I forgot to get back with them…"_

"_What?! How?!" They both ask, surprised that she could forget such an important task._

_Lynn shrugs her shoulders, "I don't know…I guess I'm…outta here."_

_Both of them look at her sad eyes; they give her a hug in hopes of comforting her, but Lynn just stands there. _

_Bryton asks, "What are you gonna do?"_

_Lynn shrugs her shoulders._

"_Have you told anyone?" Megan asks._

_Lynn shakes her head, "You know what? It's fine. I mean, I was getting sick of school anyway. I hated the tests and the studying and the classes and the projects and homework; I think I'm better off."_

_They know that she's lying; she's been a wreck since her sophomore year, and it's only gotten worse since she was benched by her softball coach. While they acknowledge that school probably wasn't the best fit for Lynn, they know that she was a capable student based off of her grades during her first year; however, she has never been able to repeat that streak since._

_Lynn turns to her friends, "What are your plans? I can probably get some ideas from you guys."_

"_I got a job with an internet start-up in Detroit," Bryton mentions._

"_And I'm heading home for the summer. I wanna kick back and relax before I come back for continue for dental school."_

"_Great…" Lynn mutters to herself._

_Bryton shrugs his shoulders, "I'm staying in the city. You can come by if you want. Your family lives nearby, right?"_

"_What if I live with you?" Lynn asks._

"_Excuse me?"_

"_Yeah, I stay with you and it'll motivate me to try, I mean you were doing cool things before I even knew you, and you even said I could come by. It'll be a great idea!"_

"_To visit, not to live," he corrects._

"_What if I help you pay rent? I can get a job and help you save some money," she suggests._

_Bryton stares in fear at Megan, hoping that she can help him; he fears that Lynn might not be the most reliable person, especially after hearing failing to get with the university regarding her possible expulsion._

_Megan shakes her head, mouthing out, "You did this to her, now you deal with the consequences."_

_He groans, and gives his a strained smile, "Sure…you can stay with me in the city…"_

"_See! I told you that it'd be a good idea." _

* * *

Francisco pulls into the university parking lot in front of Lisa's office; he told himself that he didn't want to do this, Lynn warned him not to do it, but if his scare earlier in the week isn't a wake-up call, then he's a fool. He takes a deep breath and slowly walks to her office, _'It has to stop…somehow…'_

"Enter," Lisa responds upon being alerted. She is confused by his presence, "It's not Monday, is it?"

"No," he says before taking a seat, "look, I need your help. I know that you do those drug trials on people and I was wondering if there was something that you had in terms of a pain management."

Lisa stares at him; she isn't surprised that he has come to her for this request, although she expected it years ago, "You do realize, that by becoming my test subject, you are no longer allowed to work in my laboratory, correct?"

Francisco nods his head. Between the radiating pain that keeps him from sleeping well and the sudden hypersensitivity, he needs to get a grip on his pain, and if Lisa is able to offer treatment, despite the loss of his job; then he's willing to do so.

"Do what you need to do…so long as it's legal and ethical."

Lisa chuckles at his cautious nature, "I see Lynn has filled your head with worry."

"She doesn't know I'm here."

Lynn has told him before about how Lisa would use the siblings as guinea pigs in her scientific experiments, and that alone was making him dread this decision, but if anyone could help it was her.

Lisa pulls out a voice recorder, clipboard, and pen, "How long have you been in pain and what was the cause of your pain?"

"Since I was seventeen," he can tell that she wants more information, "January 2020, in a car accident. The pain has gotten worse after years of sports. A couple of years ago, I began feeling a sort of pain in my legs and knees when I walk, but my right knee has been more troublesome when I touch it."

"How would you describe you back pain and at what times are you most likely to experience your pain?"

Francisco tries to think of how he would describe the pain, "Throughout the day it's continuous, no wait, constant, from morning until I go to sleep, going in a rhythmic pattern with momentary lapses of intensity."

Lisa looks at him after he gave his answer. She didn't let him look at the questionnaire, but yet he was able to choose the exact adjectives to describe his pain that were listed.

"It's typically relieved with brief rest like sitting or laying down, but prolonged rest makes the pain worse. It's also bad after strenuous exercise, but that's when my knee begins hurting. Recently, I've felt some warmth, and noticed some inflammation as well."

She approaches him, and checks his left knee, which leaves Francisco confused, "It feels a little warm."

"That's not the right knee," he corrects.

"Apologies," she says as she turns her attention to his other knee. "Was this the joint that was giving you trouble a few days ago?"

"Yes…"

"Why did you claim to be well?"

"I've had issues for weeks, but normally the pain subsided; this time it hasn't."

Ever since his fall, he has been struggling to hide how much pain he was in; nearly every small hit or injury was becoming more unbearable than usual. He can't even explain why the short fall even caused him to scream as loudly as he did or why it hurt so badly when he had taken his medicine.

"Can you stand?" she asks him.

Francisco complies while Lisa examines him; she makes note of his posture and looks at his troubled areas.

"Is there any family health history I should be aware of?"

"What? Well, there's heart problems, diabetes, and cancer – can you tell I hit the genetic lottery?" he jokes.

Lisa doesn't laugh, "Any other abnormalities that you've noticed?"

"I hit my head and I felt an intense pain," he mentions as this the back of his head.

She examines his head to look for any external injury, but she fails to find anything, "How would you describe the pain?"

"Pulsing, maybe throbbing or something like that," he says, "but each one felt like a stab to my head."

"I see," Lisa takes the opportunity to pinch his arm, and Francisco immediately screams in pain.

"What was that for?!" he yells.

She takes note of his reaction; noticing how tightly he is gripping his arm, as well as the tears and his teeth biting down on his bottom lip. Lisa enters the information into the computer, "I believe I have some sort of medicine that could help you. Luckily, despite your past use of medicine, I have something that you can begin taking. However, you will have to discontinue taking your previous medicine."

With a strained voice, he asks, "Should I be concerned about side effects?"

"Drowsiness, shallow breathing, and potential numbness; however, do let me know if there are any other symptoms that occur." Lisa pulls out an amber bottle, "Behold, my latest pharmaceutical product, Fencotab, name change, patent and FDA approval pending.

Francisco is breathing heavily, as the pain begins to subside, "Where the heck do people come up with these drug names?"

"Irrelevant. I need you to begin consuming this medication once every twenty-four hours. Please, try not to stray from schedule." Francisco nods, and takes the medicine from her, "I'm sorry that we couldn't continue this work arrangement."

"Yeah, me too…"

* * *

_Lynn packs up her possessions; she was happy that she wouldn't need to worry about school, but now comes the next step – figuring out what to tell her family. She settled on not telling them that she flunked out, but she doesn't want to go home in case they start asking questions._

_Her phone rings and she sees the caller ID; it's her mom, "Hey, mom. What's up?"_

_Rita squealed a bit, "I just wanted to hear from you, and congratulate you on finishing your last tests."_

_This is Lynn's last opportunity to tell the truth, "Thanks mom, they were really tough."_

"_Have you heard back from your professors yet, sweetie?"_

"_Yeah…"_

_Rita is waiting for a response, "And?" she asks excitedly, before the sound of the twins running to their mom about a venue for their party grabs Lynn's attention. Lynn can hear her mom tell the two sisters to wait, "Sorry about that, what were you saying?"_

_Lynn can feel her mother's judgment, despite knowing that Rita wouldn't shame her for struggling in school, "I passed my finals," she lies._

_She can hear the sound of squealing in the background followed by her mom calling the rest of the family to let them know the good news. Rita places the phone on speaker and all of her younger siblings are congratulating her for her accomplishment and Lynn is sure that she can hear her dad sobbing as he declares how proud she is of his little namesake. _

_Those words hurt the most._

_Lily speaks up, "When's the ceremony? We have to go! It's gonna be the first college graduation I see!"_

"_Oh…I didn't feel like going," Lynn tells them. _

"_What?! Why?!" the family asks, surprised that she didn't want to go through with the ceremony._

"_It's gonna be hot and crowded and I know that they're just gonna get some speaker that goes on talking forever, besides, I was offered a job in the city and that's better, right?"_

"_Are you sure?" Rita asks, "You might enjoy it."_

"_I'm sure. I'll see you guys on my way to the city."_

"_If that's what you want, okay."_

_The family gives Lynn one last congratulations before she hangs up and sees Bryton and Megan staring at her, "What?"_

"_You really lied to your family like that?" Bryton asks._

_Lynn doesn't answer._

_Megan warns her, "They might find out, especially the little smart one."_

"_Her name is Lisa! Is it so damn hard to learn our names?!"_

_Both friends are surprised by her reaction; they know that Lynn has brought this issue up before, but she has never snapped at them._

"_Look, I'll deal with it when it happens, but for now we have to get in the road before traffic starts."_

_Bryton speaks up, "We were still planning on sticking around for the ceremony. You're welcome to join me and my family."_

"_Or mine," says Megan._

"_Uhh…sure, I guess."_

* * *

Lynn chops vegetables for lunch; she looks over at Elena and notices her reading through her textbook to do homework, which causes the woman to work as quietly as she can so as to not interrupt her.

Elena notices the obscene silence; normally when Lynn is in the kitchen, she can be noisy, so to not hear a sound, takes the girl by surprise, "Lynn, can you check on my math homework when I'm done?"

"Are you almost done?" Lynn asks, hoping that she no longer has to worry about disturbing Elena.

"Yeah, I'm almost done."

Lynn begins to cook like normal to finish their meal when her phone begins to ring. She looks at the caller ID and sees her friend's name, "Margo! It's been a long time," she says, abandoning the food on the stove.

"_I know, but I thought that today would be a good day to tell you something."_

She takes a seat next to Elena, who looks over at the kitchen, "You got a new job?! A promotion?!" she guesses, "No wait, are you moving back home to Michigan? I'm sure Tom can do his space engineering stuff up here, and you'll have your family and friends around too."

Margo laughs at Lynn's suggestions, _"Close, we're actually thinking of taking a trip up to Royal Woods."_

"Are you serious?!" Lynn says excitedly over the phone, surprising Elena, "When?"

"_We were thinking maybe July or August,"_ Margo says.

Lynn laughs, "Can't take the heat anymore, huh? Alright, I promise that I am going to make your trip back home the best thing ever. I'll take some time off from work and we'll catch up. So how long do you plan on staying a week? Two? More?"

Margo lets out a slight laugh, _"We aren't sure yet. Tom still has to hear back from his supervisor. Now I can't promise that we can spend every day together, I am still going ti visit ny family after all, but I promise that we will spend some time together when we go up there."_

"Alright! I can't wait!" she says. "I'm gonna plan a whole weekend for the two of us."

"_You know I'm not going up there alone, right?"_

"Okay, a weekend for the six of us, maybe eight if I include your parents."

"_I can't wait. I'll let you know when we figure out all the details later."_

"Alright, let me know the minute you know what day you're coming, even the flight, and I promise you guys aren't gonna spend an hour in a car after your flight."

"_Still not letting that go?" _Margo asks, despite warning her to pay attention to her destination.

"Not one bit," she jokes.

The two women laugh and chat for a few more minutes before Margo has to go.

"So your friend is coming to town?" asks Elena, as she looks up from her homework, trying to get some information on a potential summer activity.

Lynn takes a seat next to her, "Yeah, I haven't seen her since I went to visit her after her son was born, I miss seeing her." Realization dawns on Lynn, "I have so many things to cram in like a road trip to Traverse City or Houghton up in Keweenaw; I bet your dad would love a chance to go to–"

Elena points back to the stove, "Lynn, you're burning lunch."

Panicking, Lynn quickly runs back to the kitchen to save what's left of their meal. Luckily, Elena managed to stop her rambling before things got bad, "Speaking of your dad, did he tell you where he was going today?"

Elena shakes her head, "No. I thought he told you, he's been gone for a couple of hours too."

"I'm sure he'll turn up, chances are he's probably at Lisa's organizing something that he forgot to do yesterday. He's been like that for the last couple of days since he took that tumble to the ground."

"Again?"

"He does that a lot?"

Elena isn't surprised to hear that her dad has gotten hurt, ever since she was a little girl, she could recall moments where she would be seeing him in bed or in pain. Her mom used to tell her that it was either his back, his arm, or his shoulder, but this is the first time that she is told that he hurt his head.

"It happened a few times when I was growing up," she mentions. "Although, I guess if he was able to get back up then it wasn't a big deal."

Lynn finishes the meal, "It wasn't. With the way he screamed, I thought that he was bleeding, but nope. Nothing!" She looks over the textbook, and sees the questions that the girl is working on, "I don't remember sixth grade math being _that _hard."

"Mom said the same thing too. It's okay, if you can't help, Grandpa can usually find a tutor if I need one."

"Why hire a stranger?" Lynn asks, as she takes the assignment from her, "I mean, I was a Michigan State Math Bowl champion, I think I can handle sixth grade math," she boasts as she looks through the questions in the textbook and at the assignment.

Before Elena is able to ask if there was anything that needs to be corrected, Lynn presses her head on the table to read; she can feel the girl's eyes staring at her and it reminds her of when her teachers would look at her in case she would struggle. She knows that she has to work fast or she's going to turn into a blank slate that won't be able to help with anything.

Lynn gets her head up from the table and hands the book back to Elena, she points to a paragraph, "Read this section, it'll help you with the fifth question."

As Elena reads the book, Lynn lets out a sigh of relief; happy that she is able to help her with her homework.

"Thanks," Elena says, as she reads through her book and corrects her mistake.

"No problem, just never ask me to help with your English homework," she warns.

* * *

_The two young adults open the door to the apartment. Lynn takes a few steps forward and she immediately crashes on the floor._

"_Seriously? Lynn wake up, I know that you're used to skipping class, but we need to unload our furniture before I start work in a few days," he tells her before heading back down to get some boxes._

_Lynn groans, as she slowly gets up. She slowly blinks and sits on the floor as she stares at the ceiling._

_Bryton walks through the door and sees her sitting still as she stares up, "What the heck?! Lynn, get up. We have a lot of boxes to get in here and I need your help." She takes her eyes off of the ceiling and looks over at Bryton, who is mad, "Get up," he firmly tells her._

_She is taken aback by his mood, and nods her head to follow him to their cars. As she steps out, she thinks about the look on his face; he is clearly frustrated, but after their drive from Ann Arbor, she just wants to crash in a bed._

'_I should have gone home,' she thinks to herself. 'Just faced the music…no! I already disappointed a lot of people, I can do it. Just be good. Just try to do better. College is over, I'm in the real world now. I have to get a job, then I can help Bryton, and he won't look at me like some burden that is making his life harder.'_

_Bryton hands her a few boxes, and Lynn quickly runs them back to their apartment. She carefully places them on the ground and runs back to grab more; the faster they finish the better, they can unpack eventually, but all she was focused on was getting the boxes inside and keep Bryton from realizing that he made a mistake by letting her live with him._

_He doesn't know what suddenly came over Lynn, but he is glad that she still had that athlete's hustle, as she quickly hauled the boxes with a word. While, he's aware that the inside of the apartment won't be pretty, he's just happy to know that the job won't take too much time._

_When all the boxes are in the apartment, Lynn crashes against the wall, "Is there anything to drink?"_

"_Just water."_

_She groans, "I guess…"_

_He hands her a glass and she drinks from it before resting on the floor and staring up at the ceiling in exhaustion. She knows that her body can't be physically tired; she has trained more than enough all her life to not get winded from a few trips back and forth, but she regardless, she felt drained of her energy._

"_I should have worked harder; I would have been able to stay on the team."_

_Bryton nods in agreement, but he knows that it wasn't the only thing holding her back in school. She mentioned all of her trophies from her younger years, but she wasn't that all-star athlete anymore, and she eventually became just another anonymous player that barely showed up on the team's roster. However, it didn't stop Lynn, who was obsessed with proving her worth in hopes she of becoming a star player again._

"_What about–"_

_He notices her ignoring him as she silently scrolls through her phone. After a few minutes, Bryton hears snoring and spots her sleeping on the floor with her arms around a box. The sound of buzzing grabs his attention, but it stops before he able to find the source. __Bryton hears a notification from Lynn's phone. He looks over and sees that there was a voicemail from Cesar, "What the…"_

_Lynn never mentioned that she still keeps in contact with him, although he doubts that Lynn does especially after never mentioning the man in three years. However, he can't imagine what would make him just contact her out of nowhere._

_Curious, he grabs Lynn's thumb and places it on the home key to unlock her phone and listen to the message._

"_Hey, Lynn, it's Cesar. I know that you probably don't want to hear from me after what happened, but I was hoping that we could, you know, be grown up for a few minutes…anyway, I was online, and I saw your family was posting stuff about you finishing school…uh, no, I mean, I wasn't stalking, I think I was still following them on social media, anyway I just wanted to say congrats on graduating. I know that it probably wasn't easy, but I'm glad that you were able to finish school… so yeah, congratulations, I hope you're doing well, and maybe take a minute to talk one day. So, um, uh, once again, congrats on finishing school, and hopefully we can talk again…Bye."_

_Bryton looks at the phone; he isn't sure if Lynn would want to listen to a message from Cesar, especially, since she hasn't spoken about him in years. He is tempted to leave the phone as is and let Lynn decide to listen to the message, but he can only imagine that she probably won't take it well and will spend the next few days obsessing over how her 'wronged' her._

_Rather than risk seeing her hurt, Bryton deletes the message and places the phone back where Lynn had it._

* * *

Lily walks into Lisa's underground bunker/laboratory, "Lisa, mom has been calling you for ten minutes; you've got a phone call."Lisa remains quiet as she focuses on the pipette in her hand as she tries to steady her arm to place her sample in gel well. "Lisa!" Lily yells, annoyed at her sister.

"Gah! Must you yell?! This is delicate work and I do not wish to waste time making another gel for my electrophoresis," scolds Lisa, as she turns back to the gel.

Lily rolls her eyes; she knows that Lisa takes her work seriously, but she needs to relax every once in a while, "Francisco called. He said that he was going to send you a progress report of what's been happening since he started his medication."

Lisa presses down on the plunger, "Was that all? I fail to see how that was urgent news."

The younger sister sits down on one of Lisa's lab chairs, and in a playful tone tells her sister, "Well to be fair your good friend from the country kept calling about meeting up and how he wanted to talk to you."

Lisa scowls at her younger sister, "Did he mention a date?" A big smile forms on Lily's face, "You know what I meant," groaned Lisa.

"I know, I know, he asked if you were available later today and to bring your research on Fencotab, whatever that is."

Lisa finishes placing her samples in the well, "That is confidential, however I will ask if you are available to transport me to his lab."

Lily raises an eyebrow, "You mean his farm? Sorry I'm busy later today; my friends and I have to practice for our gaming tournament, and I don't know when I'll be back."

The older sister sighs; playing in professional video game tournaments is her younger sister's current career and while she does want to chastise her for changing careers so frequently and abruptly, she stays quiet after being reminded of other older siblings in the same predicament.

"Fine, I shall find my own transportation."

As Lily walks up the ladder, "You know it wouldn't hurt for you to get a driver's license, Lisa."

"I'd rather perfect the self-driving car."

Lily rolls her eyes, "I guess whatever's easier, huh?"

Lisa scowls, "You may leave for your afternoon of virtual reality merriment."

"It's not merriment if I have a team depending on me!" Lily yells as she closes the hatch.

The scientist chuckles to herself, "She almost sounds like Lynn."

Hours later, Lisa steps out of the cab, and looks at the farm that her colleague calls home. Despite his intellect, he seems to enjoy the physical labor and simple lifestyle that comes from agricultural living. She knocks on the front door, and sees a brood of chickens walking into a barn. She follows them, and sees her colleague milking a cow.

"Am I interrupting, Dr.–"

Liam cuts her off, "You know I don't like being called Doctor, I still prefer my given name, even with my fancy city degree."

"I prefer the title, after all, you have worked hard for it and I do prefer to keep our relationship more professional rather than friendly," Lisa stares at Liam, who doesn't look like he is going to back down, "Fine. Am I interrupting, Liam?"

"Nah! I was just finishing up," Liam gets up from his milking stool and walks with his bucket of milk towards the farmhouse, "So how are our patients?"

Lisa follows after him, "Most of the patients are responding positively to our drug, although I have had some reports of patients experiencing hypersomnia."

Liam puts the bucket in the fridge and asks, "How bad is it?"

Lisa places the patients' files on the table. She sorts them out into four neat stacks and points at the first one, "These are out control patients," she points towards the larger second stack, "These patients are not having any side effects with the medications," she points to the third stack, "These patients are not experiencing any relief from the medication, and these patients," she says as she hands Liam the files from the smallest stack, "are the ones experiencing hypersomnia."

Liam looks through the files in hopes of finding something that the patients may have in common with one another; however, physically, they don't appear to share much in common.

"Are there any patterns with the other patients?" Liam asks, while still burying his nose into a patient's file.

"It appears not. We may have to delve into each patient's genetic makeup to determine what may the cause of their reactions."

Liam sighs, that is going to be a lot of work going through each genome and identifying where the differences and similarities between each patient and their reaction are, but it has to be done, especially if they want to get FDA approval.

"Would you like to divide the work between the two of us?"

Liam snickers, "You mean between me and whatever computer you build to do the work?"

Lisa rolls her eyes, "I choose to use my time efficiently so that I may accomplish more in a given day."

"Whatever you say, Liser."

* * *

**A little later than usual, but what can be done about unexpected website errors.**

**To answer the comment, the Lynn bashing and the bad luck stories was part of the reason that I wrote this in the first place, although it originally started as a Lincoln growing up fanfiction, with Lynn having the first line. My desire to get the kids' manner of speaking started a marathon to watch Lynn like a hawk and pick up how she talks and her personality. Honestly, I'm not sure if I ever got it right, but since I haven't heard complaints, I'll accept it as good (even with my theory that I'm incorporating into her). Eventually, I just transformed it into her story based off what was going to happen in a sequel fic, and thus we end up with our current story.**

**Also, don't feel bad about being a silent creeper; while I do appreciate the kind reviews from everyone, don't trouble yourselves too much**

**As always, thank you for reading and see you next time**

**(P.S. loading samples for electrophoresis is a pain and you definitely don't want to break the well, I so wish that either the buffer or the gel could be a different color)**


	35. Excitement and Familiar Feelings

Lynn punches the air as she mimics her partner, "You're a pretty good boxer, do you do it professionally?" she asks the Boxing Man.

He stays quiet and mumbles numbers as he punches; he has never spoken to Lynn, but it doesn't stop her from trying or from joining him on their morning workouts.

As the two step towards the front of her house, she stops to stretch her legs for a morning run. She waves to him, "See you tomorrow!" which he doesn't respond to as he goes on ahead of her. Lynn shrugs her shoulders, "One day I'm gonna get him to say something."

Francisco walks through the front door, "Alright, I've stretched and I'm warmed up."

"Alright! What do you think today? Five miles? Ten?"

He rolls his eyes, "How about something that isn't going to take me hours to do?"

She scoffs, "Fine…how about a quick run to the Burpin' Burger? I want to try their new Breakfast Belcher Burger."

"I guess I'll meet you there," he tells her.

Lynn begins to run ahead and Francisco watches her as he slowly follows her. While she thinks that he's still as slow as ever, he has been exercising in his spare time between the few odd jobs that he's picked up over the last couple of weeks.

"Alright Lynn, time to show you what I'm made of," he says as he takes a deep breath and begins running after her.

Years of pain has slowly gone away since beginning Lisa's medicine a few weeks ago, but he has kept it a secret until today; his back and knee feel great and he is ready to show off that athlete that Lynn saw buried beneath years of suffering.

He slowly runs to warm up, but begins picking up speed when he begins to lose sight of her. Francisco tries to keep her from noticing him, but Lynn turns around and sees him catching up to her.

"Loving that hustle, let's see if you can keep up!"

She begins running faster, but it doesn't take long for Francisco to catch up, "Is that the best you can do? Don't tell me you're slowing down on me?"

He's purposely riling her up and, predictably, Lynn isn't taking it lying down. She pushes herself as best as she can; she can see the Burpin' Burger and just as she's sure that she's left him in her dust, Lynn sees him get ahead of her.

When he arrives at the restaurant, Francisco rests against the doorway in an effort to catch his breath; he can't remember the last time that he was able to beat her in a footrace, but just being to say that he was able to run was enough to make him smile.

As Lynn arrives, he wraps his arms around her to lift her up and spin aroundwith ease; taking her by surprise.

"What the heck?! Since when can you do all this?!"

"Does it matter?"

"A little, have you been letting me win this whole time?" Lynn asks, as she is still trying to wrap her head around the information.

Francisco gently lets her down, "Nope, but maybe all this exercise has been doing me some good."

Lynn looks away from him and walks into the burger joint; muttering something to herself. She is sure that he has probably been doing well for some time, especially since he had no problem running as fast as he did and he hasn't complained at all. However, despite her shock and shyness, she is happy to see him a bit happier than normal.

She turns to him, "What did you do differently?"

Francisco winks, "Nothing. I just worked harder in my free time and I thought that I'd surprise you."

She blushes and walks up to the register to keep him from seeing the redness in her face.

The couple place their orders and Francisco pats his pockets and notices that he forgot his wallet at home, Lynn realizes what happened and rolls her eyes, "Again? Jeez! It's your turn, how many times is that this month?"

"Three."

"Three more times than normal," she jokes as she hands her card to the cashier.

"I promise I'll pay you back when we get home."

"You better," she says lightheartedly.

After receiving their food and drinks, Lynn quickly guzzles down her coffee, and begins jogging in place. Francisco can tell that she wants a rematch back to the house, but he shakes his head and shows her the bag of food and coffee that he doesn't want to drop.

Lynn asks, "Can't you just eat your burger here?"

"I could, but I'm still not gonna run."

She stops jogging and pouts, "You're no fun."

Francisco chuckles, "You say that now, but just you wait."

The couple walks quietly down the street. Lynn is itching to race him again, especially now that she knows he won't hold back, but any time that she makes an attempt to get ahead, he just stands in place and watches her until she gets back to where she started running.

When they get close to the house, Francisco begins to quickly walk, Lynn tries to catch up as they speed walk to the front door, but she notices that her shorter legs are not doing her many favors as he gets ahead of her.

He unlocks the door and rather than wait for her, he walks in after teasing her, "See you when catch up."

In a huff, Lynn runs instead and heads to the door. She walks in and is presented with the money for their breakfast.

"Already? I think you can wait until after we eat."

"Well, I didn't want to delay the inevitable and I didn't want you to get the wrong idea."

"Wrong idea of what?" she asks, before she feels his arms wrapped around her and his lips on hers.

She drops the bag of food and pulls him closer to her. He presses her against the door and she wraps her legs around his waist. She isn't sure what came over him, but she isn't going to fight it; he's rarely this spontaneous and she has sort of wanted him to do something like this for a long time. Maybe it's the fact that they're alone in the house or maybe it was because she felt a teenager who was turned on by seeing him as the strong athlete that was able to best her for a minute; but all she knows is that she doesn't want to let him go or part from him.

"Wait!" Lynn says, as she breaks the kiss. She tries to think of something that she wanted to tell him, but all she can think of is how he's kissing her neck and carrying her to their bedroom. "Margo!"

Francisco stops and looks at her, confused by what she said, "What?"

"She and her family are coming later this month and I wanted to pick them up from the airport."

"Is that it?"

"Yeah."

"Good," he says before pulling her into another kiss and taking her to their bedroom.

* * *

_Lynn wakes up with vigor; today is her first tee-ball game and she is excited to go to the park with her family and spend time playing her favorite game. She gets dressed in her uniform and grabs her glove, so that they can leave and start the game._

_She notices her brother snoring, "Wake up, Lincoln!" she loudly tells the sleeping boy._

_He begins to cry after being startled awake and Lynn runs over to check on him. She waves her glove in front of him, but he still isn't calm. The girl looks around her room and spots a stuffed toy bunny that she borrowed from her brother after he fell asleep yesterday._

"_Do you want Bun-Bun?" she asks in a pleading voice, hoping that her parents or older sisters won't make a big deal about her brother crying._

_Lincoln sees Bun-Bun being bounced around and reaches out through the crib's bars to grab the stuffed toy. _

_Lynn hands over the toy, "Alright, you got your toy, we gotta get ready, I got a game today, and you're gonna come watch me play." She looks down and notices that Lincoln is falling asleep again, she nudges him, "Wake up," she whines, "we gotta go."_

_Lincoln begins to cry and Lynn panics, as she doesn't know how to keep him quiet. She tries to shush him, but it only makes the boy cry louder, and it isn't long before the her bedroom door opening grabs her attention._

_Her dad is at the door, "What's with all the racket?" he yawns._

"_Lincoln fell asleep, but we have to go for my game, but he can't stay up," Lynn explains._

_Lynn Sr. walks over to his crying son; he picks him up and slowly begins to rock him to sleep. The boy begins to calm downand the man quietly sighs in relief until he remembers his daughter, who is haphazardly dressed for today's outing._

_After placing Lincoln back in the crib, he leans down at eye level and looks at her, "Lynn, yourgame isn't until–"_

"_Why's Lincoln in his crib? We have to go for my game," she whines._

_He picks up the girl and walks her over to the window, he opens the curtains and shows her that it is still dark outside, "See, there's no sun, so it's time for bed."_

"_But I'm not sleepy!"_

_Lincoln begins to make a fuss and Lynn Sr. carries Lynn out of the room, down the stairs and into the living room. He looks around and eventually finds what he is looking for, "See that clock? Do you see where the little hand is?"_

"_No, just the sticks on the numbers."_

"_Those are the hands," he taps on the hour hand, "That's the hour hand, when it gets to," he moves his finger in a clockwise direction, "here, then we can go to the park."_

_Lynn reaches out and grabs the two clock hands and moves them to the ten, "Now we go."_

_The elder Lynn sighs; he knows that he's going to have to be a little more creative with her, "Have you had breakfast yet?"_

_She shakes her head, "Nope."_

"_Well, when I make breakfast, then we can get ready for your game," he tells her, hoping to buy more time._

"_Can I have bacon for breakfast? Oh! And eggs! With toast! And chocolate milk! Can we have pancakes too?"_

_He sighs as he hears Lynn continue to name breakfast foods that she wants to eat. He shouldn't be surprised, his daughter was prone to running around like a wind-up toy and he can't imagine that she isn't bound to be hungry. He also could have worded his suggestion better, but he is running on a few hours of sleep after Lynn kept getting up from bed, excited for the game today._

"_Well…" he slowly starts, trying to think of his words carefully, "how about when…when…the sun comes up, then I'll make breakfast and then we can get ready to go to the park for your game."_

_Lynn squirms out of her dad's hands and runs outside to the backyard to look at which direction the sun is going to come up from. She runs back and forth and goes back towards the garage and heads towards the front of the house._

"_LJ! Stay in the backyard!" he tells her through the window. Lynn Sr. sighs; he doesn't want to play anymore, and while he understands that she's excited for the day to start so that she can participate in her first game,he just wants to go back to bed._

_Rita walks up behind him and looks as Lynn is running around the backyard and climbing on the fence as if she's looking for something, "What is she doing?"_

"_Looking for the sun so that I can make breakfast…" he says in an exhausted tone. _

_She raises an eyebrow, wondering how both her daughter and husband got to that point, "Is she hungry?"_

"_Like always, I swear I wanna know where she puts it all."_

"_How about we deal with her running around the backyard yelling for the sun to come out," she says, as she points to Lynn, who is yelling at the top of her lungs._

_Mr. Grouse opens his bedroom window and looks down to find the source of the commotion. He spots the little Loud girl, and yells towards the house, hoping to get her parent's attention, "Loud! Get your daughter under control! Some of us are trying to sleep!"_

_Lynn looks up at her neighbor, "Hi! Mr. Gross!"_

"_It's Grouse!" he corrects, and he slams his bedroom window shut._

_She shrugs her shoulders and goes back to searching for the sun._

_Rita opens the door to the backyard, "We should probably go get her before she wakes up any more neighbors."_

"_Wouldn't it be better if she just runs around a bit so that she can tire herself out?"_

"_Not if she keeps screaming as loud as she is."_

* * *

Francisco walks into the house with his toolbox in hand and is greeted by the sight of Lynn pacing back and forth around the living room as she tries to keep herself from staring at a clock. It isn't long before, Lynn checks her phone to see how much longer it will be until Margo and her family's flight lands. She can't sit still; she is excited to see her friend again, but she is also groaning because of how slowly time is moving. She checks her phone again, "Seriously?! How has a minute not passed?"

Francisco takes a seat, and looks at his watch; Margo's flight is set to arrive at 11:30 and they still have over an hour to before she arrives, however, looking at Lynn it's clear that she wants to leave for the airport now. While he isn't as obvious as her, he is also excited to see his friend in person after so many years and to finally meet her family. He fixes his eyes on Lynn, who is bouncing around with nervous energy,

He sarcastically responds, "You typically have to let sixty seconds pass before you look at the clock again."

"Not helping," she complains. "And where have you been all morning?"

"One of the neighbors down the street asked me to fix her toilet, so I agreed to help her. Besides, I wasn't gone long, I was in and out before she could finish complaining to me about her 'no-good husband who won't fix it after telling him for two weeks that there was something wrong'," he says in a mocking tone as he imitates the woman. "Why did you agree to take a day off from work to do this? Margo's parents still live in Royal Woods; they could have easily picked her up."

Lynn shrugs her shoulders, "I don't know. Just figured I'd be a good friend."

"Uh-huh," he isn't buying it. For the last couple of weeks, Lynn has been coming home more stressed than usual; she mentioned the managerial side of inheriting the restaurant, but she doesn't go too in detail about what that means or why she hates it. "You know you can't ignore your dad wanting you to take over every aspect of the restaurant," he warns her as he picks up a magazine to read.

"That sounds like a challenge."

Unfortunately, it does, and like her adolescent self, Lynn doesn't like to back down from a challenge.

Lynn continues her attempts to ignore the clock and decides to take a seat next to him. Francisco can feel her rapid tapping, and as best as he tries to ignore it, he can't, "Why don't you go online and find a video to teach yourself how to tap dance? I bet you could kill some time doing that."

"I already did it once when I was avoiding studying for a final."

He's somewhat surprised, "You taught yourself to tap dance to avoid studying?"

She gets up from the couch and does a simple step sequence, "That's all I learned, but anything is better than studying."

"You really hated school, huh?"

Lynn nods her head. It isn't a secret that she was never the academic type, but she knows that if she had the right motivation at the right time she could have been successful, at least that's what she tells herself.

"Is it almost time to go?" she asks the clock on her phone, "Seriously?! How much longer until we can leave?"

"It takes half an hour to get to the airport–"

"Not if you let me drive," Lynn interrupts.

"Then we would have to leave later."

Lynn wanted to give him a snappy response, but he is making a good point, but she can't help herself; she's excited to see Margo and her family.

Francisco turns on the tv and hopes to find something that can keep Lynn's mind off of the time; unfortunately, daytime television is typically talk shows and soap operas – not exactly Lynn-friendly programming.

"How about a walk through the park to get your mind off of the time?" he suggests.

Lynn isn't paying attention; she's staring at the clock. Rather than waste his time asking again or suggesting another activity, Francisco decides to bury his nose in the magazine and wait for time to pass.

As soon as the time on her phone shows 10:45, she immediately jumps up from her seat, takes the magazine from his hands and tosses it to the side, "Time to go!"

"I was reading that," he says, as she pulls on his arm and drags him to his truck.

After arriving at the airport, Lynn is waiting excitedly outside of the truck as she keeps glancing at the sliding doors, waiting for the family to come out of the terminal. She looks as passengers walk past her, but there is still no sign of Margo and her family.

Soon, she spots a familiar blonde hair, "Margo!" she yells out loud to get her attention, "Over here!" Lynn runs over to her to greet her friend.

Francisco watches from his truck and steps out to help the family with their luggage. He gives them a simple greeting; deciding to let Lynn have her moment, but she pulls him into the hug, "It's been a long time, Margo," he turns to her husband, "Nice to meet you…Tim?"

"Tom," he corrects, "Although I haven't looked at my birth certificate recently," he jokes.

Everyone gets in the truck and as Francisco drives away from the airport Margo looks out the window and begins to reminisce with each sight she takes in. It's been so long since she has had a chance to come back home, and she plans on making the best of this week.

As Margo and Tom stare out the window taking in the view, Nicholas speaks up, "I like that it's not hot."

"Yeah, me too," Tom and Lynn agree simultaneously.

Lynn looks at Francisco, "It was so hot when I went to visit; every time you go outside, even for a minute, you start sweating. At night, it was almost as hot, but at least the sun wasn't out," she turns to the back seat, "Tom, what did you say it was like?"

"Like taking a hot shower and then putting your clothes back on without drying off."

Francisco groans, "That bad?"

"We nearly spent the whole week inside with the curtains closed."

Tom corrects her, "We were outside for a bit, remember when you and I were trying to prove who was stronger, that was even the same day that you and Margo went to the beach."

"Okay, so a few hours, but we were still inside for most of the day."

Francisco looks up at the rearview mirror and asks the family, "Where am I dropping you guys off?"

Margo answers, "Do you remember where my parents live?"

"Wait, are you serious?! You can stay with us!" Lynn offers.

Francisco briefly looks over at Lynn; silently reminding her that they don't have enough room for three extra occupants.

"Lynn," Margo starts, "We don't want to put you out and I already told my parents that I was going to see them this week."

"Oh…so are we still going to be able to hang out?"

"Yeah, I promise that we will hang out before we head back home."

* * *

_The four-year-old girl gets strapped into her car; despite spending hours awake, she is still squirming with energy. She hates the car seat, but her parents insist that she has to wear it like her baby brother. Lynn looks at her younger brother and he just offers her a big smile as he squeals in delight when Vanzilla moves._

_Lynn looks at her older sisters, who are seated behind her. She can hear them talking and she wants to listen and hang out before her game. She unbuckles herself, but doesn't realize that her parents noticed her getting out of her car seat._

_Rita takes a hold of her, "Lynn, you need to get back in your seat."_

"_But I wanna sit with the big kids," she complains._

"_I know sweetie, but you know the rules, if Vanzilla is moving you have to stay in your seat." Rita isn't sure how many times, she's had to repeat that rule to her fifth daughter, but the lesson never seems to stick._

_Lynn pouts and gets back in her seat. She hates that she isn't allowed to be with her big sisters; she isn't a baby, she's a big girl, who is about to play her first game and she wants to be treated as such._

_The girl squirms again, not noticing that her brother is copying her. She can hear a few words that her sisters are saying, but she can't make out every word. Rita looks back and notices that Lincoln is copying Lynn and smiles as the girl goes about her usual attempts at being with her big sisters._

_When the family arrives at the park, they walk around looking for the diamond where the game is set to commence. Lynn Sr. takes out his video camera and films the family, "Lynn Jr. are you excited about today's game?"_

_She turns around and sees the camera; she smiles, "Yeah! I'm gonna play and then I'm gonna win!"_

"_What about your team?"_

"_Them too!"_

_The parents laugh at her response._

_As the family approaches the diamond, the girls spot a playground and turn their parents; all of them with the same of idea of asking their parents if they can go play. The two adults are overwhelmed by their daughters who are talking over one another to ask their parents the same thing._

"_Girls! Girls! We're here to watch Lynn play in her first game." The girls pout, they are at the park and all they want to do is have fun like their little sister._

_Rita and Lynn Sr. look at each other. She pulls out her cell phone, "Well," Rita starts, "We do have some time before the game starts and it is a nice day out."_

"_Alright," Lynn Sr. says, "I'll get LJ to her team and I'll you guys some seats."_

_The girls cheer and run towards the playground, while Rita follows behind with Lincoln in tow._

_Lynn Sr. takes his daughter's hand and she looks behind her at the playground, "Where are they going? I'm gonna be playing soon!"_

"_Don't worry, we have plenty of time, your sisters just wanted to play for a bit, but don't worry, they'll be in the stands before you go up to bat." He point s the camera to her, "I promise, now can you smile for the camera?"_

_She nods and does so, even while he focuses his new video camera on the players and their families._

_Lynn looks around for Margo and as soon as she spots her friend, she runs over and gives her a big hug. She is excited to see her friend again, especially on a day like today where they face a team in a different park than normal._

"_Are you ready to win?" Lynn asks._

_Margo giggles and shrugs her shoulders, "Maybe."_

"_Don't worry, I worked hard every day for us to win!" Lynn proudly declares. _

"_Every day? My daddy only helped me yesterday."_

_Some of the other kids began to chime in and Lynn listens as the kids bring up how they only practiced once, not at all, or a lot less than her._

_The coach calls all the kids to follow him to the dugout, but as soon as Lynn notices the dirt on the diamond, she quickly runs to show off her running, much her dad's surprise._

"_LJ! Follow your teammates!" Lynn Sr. yells upon noticing his daughter running around._

_After Lynn finishes running around, he takes a seat and looks around for his wife and children; he can see that Lynn is about to go up to bat and he is afraid that they may miss her moment. He looks around and then spots a familiar head of blonde hair, "Rita! Over here!" he calls out to her._

_She hears his voice and leads the kids to their seats. Rita takes a seat next to her husband, shw whispers, "Did I miss it?"_

"_Not yet, what happened?"_

"_I had to take the girls to the restroom and you know how they can be in there."_

_Lynn Sr. nods his head; familiar with his children's bathroom antics, from Luna trying to sing while the walls echo, Leni forgetting why she is in there, Lincoln trying to remove his diaper and run around, Lori calling her sisters to hurry up, and Luan telling jokes to the women waiting in line for their turn._

_Rita continues, "I'm just glad we were able to get here before out little hyperactive athlete had her turn…she didn't try running onto the field before it was her turn, did she?"_

"_Uh…" he doesn't answer, and just looks down at the field to film Lynn. _

* * *

Lynn walks into the garage. She is mentally exhausted, but she knows that a few minutes of boxing will do her some good. She spots Francisco working on his truck, but she ignores him in favor of the punching bag.

He looks over at her and notices her putting on her boxing gloves; she is still silent and he breaks the silence by asking, "Tough day?"

She stays silent; its days like these that make her miss the days of playing at a casino for a few hours to earn enough money for the month. It isn't the customers, she rarely interacts with them, it's her dad's insistence that she follow in his footsteps, including the mind-numbing paperwork.

Lynn punches the bag as hard as she can and Francisco hears the chain holding the bag up moving quickly with each punch, "Do you want to look online for a speed bag?"

Again, he is met with silence.

This isn't new behavior, but he is getting fed up with her behavior lately, "What's wrong with you?" Francisco asks as he holds the punching bag for Lynn.

Lynn continues to punch in silence; now she understands how annoying she can be to the Boxing Man, she just wants to train in peace, but she has to hear him ask questions. She knows why she's frustrated; ever since she agreed to take over the restaurant from her dad, he has slowly been taking her from the kitchen and forcing her to learn how to do paperwork.

"I don't want to do paperwork…" she mutters under her breath, "I just wanna enjoy my job in peace…"

It's happening again. Francisco knows the paperwork that her dad makes her do is a nightmare for her, but he also understands that when she agreed to take responsibility for her dad's restaurant that she would have to do what he did; whether she likes it or not. He doesn't tell her that, but her sake he will make an effort to sympathize just to calm her down.

"I can't blame you; I mean is that what you signed up?"

"Exactly!" she agrees, missing the point of Francisco's question. "I just want to cook not be a boring bookkeeper like Lori."

"And your dad can't do it anymore?"

"He can, but he won't because he wants me to do it and get the training from him, I can't learn everything! Every damn week I have to review my techniques, keep the kitchen clean, and help with the produce!"

"…help with the produce," he says at the same time as her.

She scowls at him, not appreciating that he is mocking her, despite him only repeating as Lynn has made the same complaints over and over again.

"If you're so damn sick of hearing me complain, I'll just leave you alone!" she yells before punching the bag and walking back to Dutch.

Francisco walks over to stop her, "Lynn, wait!" but she already slammed the door shut and he can hear the old car being driven away. "I should have stayed quiet," he tells himself.

Lynn speeds down the street; she is still frustrated, but if Francisco is so sick of hearing her then there's no point in telling him anymore. She stops at a red light, and stares out at the corner of her windshield; she is huffing in frustration, but now she isn't sure if work is the only reason why.

The sound of a horn makes Lynn lose track of her thoughts and she stares back at the driver of the other car, who is frustrated that she hasn't moved despite the green light.

"Where was I?" she asks herself. "Oh yeah…"

She had an expected to spend time with Margo and her family, but every time she called, the family was away somewhere in the state, and soon they were going to go back home and they wouldn't have had a chance to hang out.

Deciding to at least try again, Lynn dials Margo's number. She answers the call, "Hey, Lynn, I was just about to call you."

"You were?" she asks, surprised by the random luck.

"Yeah, I was wondering if you had plans this weekend; the boys wanted to go out to the lake and have a picnic or something and I wanted you and Francisco to join."

"Oh! Well, yeah, the three of us can join you guys."

Margo smiles, "Good, look, I'm sorry that we haven't been able to hang out too much; Tom created this huge itinerary and wants to cross off a lot of things from his bucket list and I figured that since you and Francisco work during the week, you probably couldn't get time off to run around and do silly tourist stuff."

Lynn scoffs, "No, I get it. I mean, it's a vacation, and you guys had your own plans," she says through her teeth.

Margo can tell that she is frustrated at the lack of time together, but she did think that Lynn would be busy with work, especially if she forgot to request some days off.

"Do you want to come over to my parent's place? We were just about to break out a board game," Margo offers.

"Yeah…that sounds nice."

* * *

_Lynn looks at her teammate as he attempts to hit the ball off of the tee. She can feel her heart pounding; everyone told her that the game is just for fun, but she feels something funny in her stomach as she watches all of the kids on the field. She knows how hard she had to work, but she also knows that the other kids on her team make it look easy, even though they practiced less than she did._

_She watches as the first boy walks up to the tee and tries to hit the ball. Lynn stares as she notices how he hits the ball. It doesn't travel far, but the boy begins running; that's exactly what she would do, but she recalls that he hasn't practiced since they last got together._

_As each teammate goes up to bat, Lynn begins to wonder if she spent too much time practicing to accomplish the same thing as each of her teammates. All of them are able to hit the ball and run like her, but she doesn't understand why they are able to do as well as her when she spent so much time practicing with her dad._

_Lynn watches as the other team as well; they can do everything she can do and probably the same way. She can't describe the feeling, but she's sure that it's like when she got sick eating her dad's Squid Ink Surprise a few months ago._

_From the stands, the parents cheer and laugh as they watch the children's antics; from one girl sitting on first base, another boy waiting until the other team's player arrived to base to throw the ball, another girl chasing a boy even as he runs off the path to avoid getting touched by the ball._

_None of the children are good, but everyone is in high spirits regardless as the kids enjoy themselves._

_Lynn's stomach begins to feel funny; she feels sick and like she is going to look silly because she thinks that she did something wrong. She walks around the dugout, but soon trips on her shoelaces._

_Margo lends her hand to her friend, "Here," she says._

_Lynn gets up and looks at her dirty shirt and loose laces. She is able to pat the dirt off, but she doesn't have the hang of tying her shoelaces yet. She tucks in her laces into her shoes and she tries her best to keep them inside._

_The coach calls out Lynn and she nods as she goes up to bat. She takes a deep breath and looks at the ball, she is ready to make sure that she can make it fly further than any kid on the field. However, when she hits it, it doesn't travel far, but it doesn't stop Lynn from trying to do her best as she runs to first base._

_A player on the opposing side stops the rolling ball and runs in her direction; forcing her to stop on the plate. While the coaches set up for the next player, Lynn can only think about how she expected for the ball to go far, but when it travels just as far as everyone else's she thinks about how she is dumb for spending so much time to accomplish the same thing as everyone else._

* * *

Francisco sets down his cooler full of food and grabs the matches to light a fire on the grill. He takes in a deep breath and lets the lake air relax him after a tense week. All week he has had to see Lynn upset and stressed, but he is hoping that this barbeque by the beach will settle her down and get her back her normal self.

Lynn walks up behind him, "Do you know what time they're coming?"

He looks over at Lynn, "I thought that Margo told _you_."

She stares at the fire, unable to recall what time Margo said that she and her family were arriving, "Well it doesn't matter, they're coming today and that's all that matters."

"Did Margo mention how many people are coming?"

"Just her, Tom, and Nick."

"Did you tell them not to bring anything?"

Lynn stops to think, but Francisco is sure that she probably forgot to do so; he sighs, it isn't difficult to relay some basic information, but somehow Lynn could make it harder than necessary.

"Who cares? Besides, we can carry around some extra food; no big deal."

"Yes, big deal, we're gonna have a lot of leftovers and Margo and her family are leaving in less than two days, so we're likely going to end up keeping most of it."

"I don't see the problem, and now you can stop complaining about spending money on slightly more expensive food," Lynn complains.

He can't believe that she's actually going to bring that into this disagreement; he's aware that Lynn isn't fond of his being more frugal than normal, but they have to make due until he gets substantial employment.

"What does that have to do with anything?"

Elena can feel the tension rising, but she doesn't know what she can say to remedy the situation. She slowly backs away from the couple and let's them angrily stare at one another, while she quickly walks away and takes a closer look at a tree at the other side of the lake.

As Francisco responds to Lynn, she notices Elena quickly walking away from the two, "Where is she going?"

He turns around, and sighs, "Dang it…not again," he turns to Lynn and decides to make peace, "I think that we were a bit hasty and maybe it would be nice if next time, I handle the communication, so that this doesn't happen again."

She doesn't know what made him drop the issue, but Lynn isn't going to fight it and instead agrees so that things can get back to normal.

Francisco waves out to Elena in hopes of getting her attention. He knows that him fighting with Lynn made her leave, but with their short fight over, he wants her to return to the site in case anything happens while she is away from both him and Lynn.

"She'll be back eventually," she points towards the girl, who is slowly walking back to them, "see, there she is now. I'm gonna go get the extra food from my car and then we can start heating some up before everyone gets here."

"Are you sure it isn't because you're hungry?" he jokingly asks.

Lynn doesn't take too kindly to the joke and steps on his foot. Francisco feels his laces loosening, he bends down to tie his shoes, and out of habit, anchors his hand onto a steady item to lift himself up.

Elena approaches the site and notices that her dad has his hand placed on the grill, "Dad, what are you doing?!"

He looks up at her and wonders what she is talking about when he notices that his hand is getting warm; he quickly pulls his hand away from the grill and looks down to see redness.

She looks at the damage, "Didn't you feel that?"

"Yeah, but it wasn't _that _hot. I'm gonna go see if Lynn packed some burn cream for it and I'll be right back."

Francisco heads to the car and spots another car heading into the parking lot with familiar faces inside. Lynn waves to them and they honk their horn before parking next to her car. The family exits from the car and greet Lynn and Francisco, who accidentally shakes Tom's hand with his hurt hand.

He bites down on his bottom lip, "Lynn, did you pack the first aid kit?" he asks as he shows her the burn on his hand.

Tom excitedly opens the trunk, "I hope y'all don't mind, I brought some food."

"Great…" Francisco whispers under his breath as Lynn applies the burn cream.

She quietly tells him, "Be nice and eat until you feel your stomach is about to explode."

Tom pulls out a cooler from the trunk and places Margo's bag on top; he surprised by the weight and asks his wife, "Dang Margo, what did you put in your bag? Bricks?" he jokes.

"Just something for my friends."

* * *

_Lynn looks through the chain-link fence. Everyone is eating a snack after the coaches called for a short break, but all Lynn could do was look out at the other team; she has been a nervous mess all day and it showed in her plays. Her team was losing, and she knows that it's her fault; she didn't practice enough…or maybe she isn't good enough if she needs to work so hard to only be as good as everyone else._

_Lynn closes her eyes in exhaustion, but she is slowly woken up by the smell of lunch; she opens her eyes, and spots her parents in the stands waving her over to get something to eat. The girl drags her feet, and her parents notice her bad mood._

"_What's wrong, LJ?" her dad asks, concerned about her bad mood._

"_I'm not good enough…everyone is just as good, but I was too slow…" she complains._

_Her parents are curious about where this attitude came from; as far as they knew, Lynn worked hard for the runs that she achieved, but it didn't seem to matter because the other kids were doing just as well._

_Lynn Sr. hands her an orange slice to chew on, "Do you want something else to eat?"_

_She nods her head after finishing the piece of fruit. The parents can sense her foul mood, they know that Lynn struggles with keeping her emotions in check, especially with her competitive nature, but they hope that regardless of the outcome that she can accept it gracefully and learn that it isn't the end of the world._

_Lynn Sr. hands her cut up hotdog with mustard and hands her a piece. She takes a bite, but the condiment drips onto her shirt and she groans at getting another stain on her clothes._

_The coaches call the players back onto the field and Lynn is stopped, "Wait," her dad calls, he ties her shoes, "There, now you'll be ready play again."_

_Lynn looks down at her shoes and walks away to meet her teammates. Everyone is chatting away, but she ignores them in favor of sitting in the dugout by herself. She doesn't notice when her friend walks by to compliment her on the hit that she made, but she notices her friend's sad look._

"_What's wrong?"_

"_Nothing…"_

_Margo stays quiet, but she notices the mustard stain on Lynn's shirt and asks, "What happened?"_

_Lynn crosses her arms, "Nothing! Just a stupid mustard stain."_

_The blonde girl can tell that Lynn isn't taking the team's losing well and it's affecting her ability to play. She is sure that her friend is good, heck probably the best, but she got into her own head and won't budge._

"_You know, my older cousin said that stains like that are good luck."_

_Lynn doesn't believe her, "No they aren't."_

"_Uh-huh! My cousin said so," Margo confirms._

_The brunette isn't sure, but when she sees the look on Margo's face, she slightly nods and tries to hype herself up for her next turn at bat._

_The coach calls Lynn up to the tee and sets a ball up for her to hit. She can feel her heart pounding; she wants to tell herself that she can do it, but she knows that she can't, especially after a day like today._

_Lynn looks down and spots the little yellow stain; suddenly, she feels calm, she can do this, she isn't going to mess up or anything. She takes her bat and hits the ball, and as the other kids are chasing after the ball, Lynn runs as fast as her little legs will carry her and goes to first base. The coach encourages her to keep running until she thinks she should stop. _

_She can hear her family cheering from the stands and she keeps going as the other kids go to catch the ball or throw past one another. Lynn stops at second base and looks around; a girl has the ball, and she stays put until her teammate goes up to bat._

_She is excited; none of the other kids were able to get to second base with one hit. Lynn glides her fingers over the mustard stain and thinks how it helped her, even if it was just luck. When her teammate hits the ball, she runs once again; she can hear the coaches from the opposite team encouraging their players to chase her with the ball, but with all her strength, she outruns her opponents and makes it to home plate. _

_Lynn's teammates run to congratulate her, but all she can think about was how the lucky mustard stain helped her be better than she expected._

* * *

Nick looks in awe at the scenery around him; back home everything is usually brown and the trees typically made way for the bayous, but here, he was able to see forests and lakes that looked like it came from a picture book. He's seen the beach before, but everyone insisted that this beach is different than what he was used to back home. He steps closer and closer towards the water; it's bluer than back home. He keeps going forward; hoping to set his foot in the water, when he hears a voice call out to him.

"Nicholas!"

He turns around and sees his mom with her arms crossed. "Can I go swimming?" he asks his the past couple of days, he was mostly shuffling around with his mom, dad, and grandparents, but now he has an opportunity to go outside and do something fun – starting with going in that water.

Margo walks over to him, "Give us a few minutes to set up and then we'll go in the water."

Lynn passes by with a few chairs and a parasol, "I'll keep an eye on him while I set up, you can get your things and I'll make sure he doesn't sneak into the water alone."

Margo has an idea of what her friend is planning, and while she agrees to have her watch her son, she still keeps an eye on the two.

Lynn can feel Margo's eyes and sets up the chairs, but as soon as she is sure that her friend isn't looking, Lynn walks over to Nick, "Do you want to go in the water?" He nods his head excitedly, "Did you put on sunscreen?" He nods again. "You didn't have food recently, did you?" he shakes his head, "Then let's go!" she declares as she picks him up and runs towards the water.

Elena sees the sight by the shore, "Dad, Lynn's taking Nick into the water."

"Lynn!" he yells. She stops in her tracks and turns around, "Don't take him in yet! Help us finish then you can both go swimming."

Margo, Tom, and Elena look at him, then turn to Lynn who begrudgingly turns around and lets go of the boy.

"Some things never change," Margo laughs.

The other join in. Despite not seeing each other in nearly four years, and not seeing Francisco in over decade; to Margo, it felt as though they were teenagers.

Nicholas runs up to his mom, "But mom," he whines, I wanna go in the water."

Lynn rests her head on the boy's shoulder, and looks up at the others with her puppy-dog eyes, "I can watch him, and it's not like the coney sauce can't be heat up in a heartbeat. Besides," her eyes look down on his little life jacket, "he's going to be safe and the water isn't too deep."

The three adults give in and let them hit the water; figuring that they can finish setting up while keeping both of them distracted.

Francisco looks out into the water and sees Lynn playing with Nick; Margo, who is also looking, "Even after all these years, she still can't let him go."

"What?"

Margo turns to him, "When she came to visit, she was pretty attached to him. Honestly, I was afraid that she wouldn't give him back if I didn't say anything," she jokes.

"She almost didn't," Tom adds, "I think even on the car ride back she was playing with him."

"That…doesn't sound like Lynn," Francisco says, surprised to hear such things about her, "You know, except for those kids that she babysat, she never struck me as the type to even like kids, although…" he points out to Lynn, who is pretending to be a sea monster and chase the boy.

"Speaking of kids, where did Elena go?"

Francisco points out to her, "She's resting on the dock reading a book from her summer reading list."

Margo glances over at Elena, "You know, Lynn mentioned that she made the honor roll, you must be proud of her."

Francisco sighs, "I guess…"

"What does that mean?"

He struggles for a bit before he starts, "You know that her mom and I are separated," Margo nods, "Well, she spends so much time with Caroline and her family; I sometimes don't feel like I play much of a role. How much do I really raise her when I have her Friday afternoons to Sunday evenings?"

Margo's eyes soften after hearing Francisco talk. She knows from some conversations with Lynn, that he wishes that he could have his daughter around more, and she can imagine that it's hard to not be around often.

She places her hand on his shoulder, "Don't sell yourself short, those days add up."

"That's what Lynn tells me too sometimes."

"Maybe you should listen."

The two laugh. Francisco looks out at the water and watches as Lynn plays with the boy; he begins to wonder what is bringing out this happier side in her. It isn't exactly a rare sight, but he can feel that there is something different than normal. He shrugs his shoulders, figuring that maybe it's Margo's presence that caused the change in her demeanor.

Tom opens the pot that Lynn brought, "What's in here? Chili?"

"Coney sauce."

"What's the difference?" he turns to Margo, "or is that what you guys call chili up here."

She sighs, he's been like this all week; comparing things and being surprised by how different things are in Michigan versus their hometown, "No, it's for the hotdogs – coney dogs."

Tom closes the lid, "Should we hit the water first?"

"I wouldn't mind eating, plus it'll get those two out of the water for a bit," Francisco says, pointing out to Lynn and Nicholas.

"Maybe you should heat some of the food up so that they don't have to wait too long," Margo suggests.

Francisco agrees and opens the cooler to get the burgers and hotdogs cooking. Tom looks over at the grill; it wasn't his idea of a barbeque, but it's a cookout, so he'll keep quiet, and not just because Margo was getting sick of him saying silly things.

"So where did you two meet?" Francisco asks.

"Government class," Tom answers. "I think we were reading a court case and we got grouped together because we were sitting close to one another."

"Then we talked by the bus stop, exchanged numbers, and whenever he wasn't in a rush to go home, we would hang out around campus," Margo reminisced.

Tom nods, "We would hang out by the pond by the architecture building, the fountain in front of the library, sitting where the Satellite was before they closed it, catch a concert at the park in front of the dorms; you know stuff like that."

"Stuff like what?" ask Lynn and the kids, surprising everyone.

"Oh, just taking a trip down memory lane," Margo answers. "Speaking of, I brought something that you and Francisco might appreciate." She pulls out a large scrapbook from her purse and opens up to show everyone pictures from when the trio of friends were teenagers.

Elena and Nicholas take the book and look through the pictures; there are photos from a soccer game, the photo in front of the movie theater with a group of friends, a beach volleyball game, swimming at the pool and a field trip.

"Look, dad! All the leaves change color, and does it snow every year?!" he asks, as he spots a photo of a snowy Christmas field trip.

Tom looks over at the photo, "Dang! No wonder you aren't afraid of driving in the snow, Margo," he laughs.

"When the snowfall back home is the equivalent of dropping a flippee on the ground, no, I'm not going to be afraid, although I do love the day off from work."

Lynn, Francisco, and Elena laugh.

The smell of the burgers grabs the boy's attention and he asks, "Can we eat? Miss Lynn promised we were going to eat burgers and hotdogs and coke."

Margo looks over at Lynn, who just responds, "What? Swimming builds up an appetite and I had to stop him from drinking the lake water."

Francisco and Margo roll their eyes, but let out a chuckle at her antics.

* * *

**This is what I hate about falling behind, it screws up my update schedule and then it's hard to catch up, but hopefully, I can get back on track for both of our sake**

**To answer the review question, I don't really get on either site; nothing is stopping me, but I never got into the habit of looking through either one to say, "I'll post my story here." Maybe when the chapters are rewritten, but even then, I'm not sure.**

**I don't have much to say about the the other reviews. Yes, an OC could probably fill the same role that Francisco serves now, but considering that he isn't used in the show, it doesn't seem to me like there's a difference in using either one; I created a character in the way I wanted. The difference? I used a character that showed up on screen.**

**Anyway as always, thank you for reading, everyone**


	36. Injury and Haunting Words

Lynn walks out the front door, a shovel in hand, and begins to get to work. Under normal circumstances, she would clear the driveway, sidewalk, and walkway to help Francisco, but she has something else planned today. After seeing how surprised Nick and Tom were about real snow, she decided that for Christmas she would send them a cooler full of the stuff. It probably wasn't the smartest idea to do so, but mailing services deliver frozen food all the time, she can't imagine that it would different for frozen water.

With the snow cleared and the cooler filled, Lynn goes into the house. She shakes off the extra snow from her jacket and drops the shovel as she drags the cooler into house.

Francisco, who just woke up, sees the small pile of melting snow in front of the front door, "Are you serious?"

"Don't worry, I'll clean it up, just give me a minute to look for some stamps."

"What about the shovel?"

Lynn looks at it, "Right. Hold on." She says as she abandons the cooler and grabs the shovel to place it back in the garage.

"So why do you need stamps?"

"To send the cooler," she answers.

Francisco looks inside of the cooler, "Lynn, why do you have a cooler full of snow?"

"Because it's fresh snow," she answers.

He can't figure out what that is supposed to mean, or why she bothered to pack away snow when winter is still a long way from ending, but rather than go into an unnecessary conversation with Lynn's fleeting focus, he decides to let the issue go.

"I'm gonna go to the post office or maybe I can convince Lisa to let me borrow a drone and send it straight to Margo," she suggests to herself, "but then she'll complain that she doesn't have time or say that it can't fly…" Lynn stops to count how far she presumes the drone will fly to send the cooler. "Maybe one thousand or fifteen hundred miles, but I'll find a way. After I send the snow, I'm gonna go shopping for Christmas presents, so I may be gone for a little while."

As he watches her grab her things to go out again, he looks up from the couch, "Wait, before you go, do you want your Christmas present to be a surprise, or do you just want to skip the disappointment and tell me exactly what you want?"

Lynn thinks about it. Usually, Francisco's track record of picking out good gifts was decent at best, and she had learned to live with it, however, the opportunity to pick out her own gift is tempting, even if it did take the fun of Christmas away.

"You could decorate the outside of the house," she suggests. "And not just lights on the edges, I'm talking snowmen and light-up candy canes and huge Santa Claus on the roof kind of set-up."

He doesn't have any of those kinds of decorations to come close to what she was suggesting, "Okay…I'll see what I can do."

"Oh! And a surprise present wouldn't be that bad either," she says with a playful smile before giving him a kiss goodbye and heading to her car.

"Then why do you need the decorations?" he asks as he follows behind her.

Lynn packs the cooler into the backseat, "'cause you and Elena deserve some Christmas magic that you only find in those cheesy movies!" she happily says before getting in the car and pulling out of the driveway.

Francisco sighs, "Well I guess I have no choice…I do, but…it's not like it's a bad thing," he tells himself. He is lost in thought as he tries to think of what sort of decorations he could get quickly without breaking the bank. As he approached the front door, he slipped on a patch of ice and crashes into the snow. He gets up, yawns, and looks for any sign of cuts; after not finding anything he gets up and goes back inside.

* * *

_Francisco ties his laces, his game is about to start and he is excited to get back on the ice to play hockey. It was only a few weeks since his last game, but winter break and being stuck at home, only made to itch to play worse._

"_Did you finally get the new skates that you been eyeing?" a teammate asks._

_Francisco shakes his head, "No, if I bring up the word 'new' all I'll hear is my dad saying how my gear is still fine."_

_His teammate chuckles; Francisco has made that complaint before, but he is always able to get the necessary gear come game day, even if it is used and he still complains._

_As the boys step onto the ice, Francisco looks up at the stands; he doesn't know why he does it, he knows that no one in his family is there to see him play, but it never stops him from doing so. The fifteen-year-old knows that his mom hates the temperature in the arena, his dad is usually tired or busy doing something else, Chuy is just as busy and Kiké, well, he can't bothered to attend._

_He skates to his position and looks over as the other team; the referee drops the puck and the game starts. The sound of cheers and the blades on ice overtake Francisco as he begins to skate after the puck. He knows the plays, his abilities, and his weaknesses, and he won't let himself be brought down by what he knows about his opponents._

_He knows how aggressive the other team can be; newspaper and magazine articles mention the team's numerous penalties and how they aren't afraid to get them in an effort to weaken their opponents, but he isn't going to let that get into his head._

_Francisco gets control of the puck and heads towards the goal. He skates past the opposing team in an effort to score a point, but as he nears the net, a player from the opposing team rams into Francisco and he crashes into the plexiglass and his whole world goes silent, except for a crunching sound. He knows what happened, he dislocated his shoulder, but that he isn't planning on stopping. _

_Unfortunately, the referee and his coach notice him holding onto his shoulder and call Francisco back to the stands._

"_I'm fine," he tells the referee. "I can still play," he lies._

_It doesn't work._

_The team trainer meets Francisco; he knows what is about to happen, but a short jolt of pain to pop his shoulder back in is worth it to get him back on the ice. He takes a deep breath and the trainer grabs his arm and places it on the glass above his head. The trainer pushed him forward a bit and Francisco bites down on his bottom lip to keep himself quiet, but his shoulder is back in place._

_He takes a seat and waits; neither the coach nor the trainer are going to let him go back onto the ice immediately. As he watches his teammates play, the trainer takes a seat next to him, "I'm going to show you some exercises that you can do at home to treat your shoulder."_

_Francisco watches the man; he already knows what he's going to say, he's learned these exercises before, but he lets the man talk. He understands why he's concerned; Francisco barely turned fifteen, and this is the third time that he's received the same injury, and it's starting to concern him and his family._

"_Has this happened before?"_

"_Yeah, a few times."_

"_Have you gone to the doctor about this?"_

_The teen shakes his head; excluding the annual physical and a major injury, he rarely goes to the doctor, he knows as an athlete that he shouldn't take his physical health lightly, but he hates wasting his time waiting to see someone. _

"_I think that you might want to talk with a doctor and see what they say; they can probably recommend you to see a physical therapist or someone else."_

_Francisco knows that someone else is really a surgeon. After he got hurt the first time, he did some research on what he was going to expect and one of the entries did mention surgery. It isn't common, but after so many times, he's going to have to admit that he should see someone before his arm gets worse._

"_I'll tell my parents after the game." _

* * *

Lisa reads through her textbook when the sound of her phone interrupts her, she picks up and is immediately met with, "We found it!" Liam yells into the phone. "We found it!"

She distances her ear from the phone and asks, "Found what?"

"The similarities between the patients with hypersomnia, they have a point mutation on the twelfth chromosome. That little change means that Fencotab isn't being metabolized properly by the ones with it, and it's accumulating in their bodies."

Lisa pulls up the patient files on her computer, "This mutation wasn't found on anyone else from the other groups?"

"Nuh-uh. Everyone else's didn' have the mutation, and I checked Muriel's work too."

Lisa sighs. She finds it difficult to believe that a man of his intellect would use a common goat to determine these important findings, but he insists that the _Capra aegagrus hircus _was capable of determining genetic mutations based on the animal's 'supposed' synesthesia. To date, Muriel hasn't been wrong, but she isn't fond of the idea of using a common barn animal for such delicate work.

"We went through every chromosome from smallest to largest to find any abnormalities and compared them to the control group and the others who were doin' well; they're the only ones with it."

"That would explain why the group was as small as it was, now we need to determine how much of our medication is in their bodies and determine possible solutions."

"And if any other patients may also be strugglin' with it." A notification on Lisa's computer grabs her attention, and Liam explains, "You may need to run a blood test or sometin' and see what may be going on."

"I'll notify the subjects and have them report to my laboratory post haste to run the blood work."

"Alright, just send me the info and I can get to checkin' it."

"Of course."

Before Lisa hangs up, Liam asks, "By the way, did your dad make a mistake on his egg and milk order form? It looks different from his last order?"

Lisa rolls her eyes, she isn't concerned with matters regarding the restaurant, "I'll ask father when I have free time."

"Alright, and if it needs correctin' let me know, I don't think your dad has ever needed two hundred dozen eggs and nine thousand gallons of milk in a single week," he tells her.

"I'll inquire later this evening, good day."

Lisa hangs up and calls the three subjects that are having the negative reaction to Fencotab. As she looks through their files, she begins looking through the dates when they started showing side effects of the medication. All of them took months before they began having issues, so Lisa is sure that she will have to contact her more recent patients to catch this issue before anything happens.

"How long did it take?" she asks herself as she quickly scans through the documents of the confirmed point mutation subjects, "Six months."

Lisa goes to her chalkboard to write down a plan for how to treat the current and the potential patients – first, she'll have to determine if there are any patients that are currently not displaying symptoms that may in the future, next she'll have to run a blood test to see how much of the medicine in said patients to adjust the dosage as needed, and finally, she'll have to determine the mistakes in father's food order – simple.

She grabs the files of the patients that are suffering from hypersomnia and all of the patients that have been part of the study for the shortest time; she grabs her phone and starts to make the calls.

* * *

_Alicia opens the front door and Francisco walks in as he drags his gear into the house. The trainer, in his best combination of Spanish and charades, mentioned what happened to Francisco and he recommended that he be seen by a medical professional._

_His mom was not happy to hear that he is injured again, but it isn't new; in any sport he played, at some point he was going to suffer through an injury, but she rarely took it easy. He understands that like any mother, she's worried to see her child injured, but it isn't something that they haven't dealt with before. _

_In all the years that he's played sports, Francisco has suffered from dislocations, sprains, breaks, cuts, bruises, and his unfortunate chipped tooth; and each time he is able to bounce back, and get back on the field. He's sure that she would rather he take on a less dangerous hobby, but Francisco is persistent. _

"_No sé por qué sigues queriendo jugar al hockey, siempre te estás lastimando," Alicia says, concerned about her son's latest injury._

"_Me gusta jugar," is all Francisco can say._

_She shakes her head at her son's insistence; as much as she wishes that her son wouldn't play such a dangerous game, she knows that he loves playing, ever since those boys in his elementary school asked him to play._

"_¿Cuándo comienza la temporada de béisbol?" she asks._

_He gives her a smile to remind her that he can get hurt playing baseball, "En unos cuantos meses," he reminds her._

_Unfortunately for Francisco, he never could find that missing chip after someone hit him in the face during a baseball game, and his family was tight on money to get the dentist to fix it properly; how he wished that at the time his mom didn't listen to his dad about how pointless getting on her job's medical plan was._

"_¿Qué te dijo el entrenador?"_

_Francisco tries to think of what the trainer told him after he popped his shoulder back in, "Que tengo que hacer los ejercicios que me dijo de después de que me quite el, um…" he points to his shoulder brace._

"_¿Es todo?" she asks, assuming that Francisco may be leaving out something._

"_Si," he tells her._

"_Voy hacer una cita para ir al doctor," she tells him._

_He groans, "Fine…"_

_In accented English, she mimics him, "Fine…tu sabes muy bien que tienes que ver al doctor, el entrenador lo dice, y dudo que quieres perder la capacidad de tu brazo," she loudly lectures him. _

_He can't blame her, and he doesn't want to hear a loud lecture about how he's not taking his injury seriously, "Bueno, esta bien, ¿puedo ir a mi cuarto? __Tengo que hacer tarea."_

_She lets him leave, "Ve y descansa mejor," when she's sure that Francisco isn't nearby, "¿Por qué dejé que empezara a jugar ese fregado deporte?"_

* * *

Francisco looks around at his handiwork, "Garlands on the door frames, check…Stockings on the fireplace, check…Tree decorated, check…Now, the outside…." This is the part that he was looking forward to the least. The idea of heights plus a slippery roof and his general sleepiness is a terrible combination, but how can anyone say that they've decorated a house properly for Christmas without lights?

He heads into the garage to grab his ladder and box of lights, "Lynn can get the rest of the decorations," he yawns.

Francisco grabs his jacket and gloves, and as he walks out the door, he hears the sound of his medicine bottle falling to the ground, "Stupid pockets…I need to get one with a button or zipper…" he reminds himself as he picks up the bottle.

As he steps outside, Francisco looks up at the roof; its covered in snow, "Well, a little more work…but whatever…" He secures the ladder and heads up to the roof. He's nervous, but it's not like he hasn't done so before, "Just be careful and everything will be fine," he tells himself. Francisco slowly steps up and when he is on the roof, his phone rings.

"Good afternoon, former laboratory assistant, how are you doing today?"

"Now's not a…good time…Lisa," he yawns as he clears some snow off of the roof.

"Then I'll make this brief. I'm calling to check if there has been changes in your physical health since you have starting taking Fencotab." He hasn't mentioned anything yet, but most of the patients that had issues took some time before the side effects appeared. Francisco closes his eyes, he can feel another yawn about to come, "I see that you're suffering from fatigue. Are you available tomorrow morning to come to my lab?" she asks through the phone.

"Sure…but, I don't think that…I've got anything else…It's working great…"

The excessive yawning has Lisa concerned; that was the first symptom that patients began to experience, and while it isn't odd, she does want him to come see her.

Francisco puts the phone on loud speaker to begin hammering nails onto the roof, "Look…I'm fine…and the medicine…works great…"

Lisa hears the pounding of the hammer, "What is that?"

"Putting up some Christmas lights," he yawns. "Trust me…you have nothing to worry about."

Lisa knows not to believe him; she knows that he can be prone to lying, "Have you been consuming any other pain medication?"

"No, just the pills that you've given me…and you can give me a blood test if you want to prove it," he offers.

"I shall take you up on your offer," she warns him before hanging up.

Francisco grabs him phone, "I shouldn't have given her that idea…" he continues pounding away and hanging the lights. "I guess one damn prick in the arm will do if it's the only way to get her to believe that I'm fine."

He's a little curious about why she has a sudden interest; in the last couple of months, Lisa has taken his information and called it a day; now he's supposed to believe that she wants him to see her without being a bit concerned about the reason – he doesn't buy it.

Francisco pounds on a nail, but it falls to the ground, "What the?" he pulls out another one and his thumb isn't being cooperative, "Okay, that's weird," he tells himself, as he grabs the nail with his other fingers.

The lights are placed around the roof, "Good, that took longer than it needed to, but at least it's done. Now all we have to do is buy the other decorations and get presents."

He spots Dutch, and waves over to Lynn as he turns the lights on to show her before surprising her with the decorations in the house.

Lynn spots the lights as she pulls into the house, "Hey! Looking good so far."

"Thanks, we age well in my family," he jokes.

She playfully rolls her eyes, "So do you need help with the rest of the decorations?"

He shakes his head, "I haven't bought them yet," he yawns, "We can go tomorrow to see what we can find."

Lynn notices his yawning, "How are you still tired?"

"I didn't sleep well last night, cut me a little slack," he says.

Francisco takes a step back and steps on the patch of exposed ice, he loses his footing and falls to the ground; taking Lynn by surprise as she rushes in an effort to catch him. Unfortunately, he lands on the ground before she is able to reach him. The sound of cracking grabs her attention and she runs to him. However, she is taken aback when he gets up without complaining of any pain.

"Are you okay?" she asks.

"Yeah, why?"

"You just fell off the roof, this is normally the part where a person screams or says that they might be hurt."

He shrugs one of his shoulders and Lynn notices the abnormality. While this isn't the first time that he's fallen off of the roof, normally, he would show that he was in some sort of pain; now it appears that he's fine despite the tumble to the ground.

She unzips his jacket and notices that he dislocated his shoulder, "Doesn't that hurt?"

Francisco looks over to where she is touching and notices that his shoulder popped out again, "I'll be fine. It's not the first time that it's happened."

Lynn isn't accepting that answer. Rather than letting him go back inside, she helps him up and leads him to her car to get him looked at by a doctor.

* * *

_Francisco looks through his textbook as he studies the material to type his report on his laptop. He's sure that he won't be playing in the next few games, and that he'll have some free time, unfortunately that means he's going to be hanging around the house more often than normal, which always gets more tense in the winter months. _

"_Stupid shoulder," he mutters to himself._

_He knows that the trainer makes a good point about going to see the doctor; this isn't the first time that he's received a dislocation, but they aren't common either. However, just thinking about going to the doctor is already giving him a headache; the crowded lobbies, the sick people, and all that time wasted on something that could be looked at and treated quickly._

"_I'm fine…three times isn't the end of the world, and I'm not going to need surgery" he tries to convince himself._

_Before he is able to turn to the next page, he hears the front door open; Francisco looks at his watch and he is surprised by how late it is in the afternoon, but considering that it's Saturday and his dad has a day off he shouldn't be._

_Francisco knows what his mom is going to talk to him about; despite him not bringing it up, the trainer did his best to tell his mom to take him to see a doctor to determine if he'll need surgery after suffering from his latest dislocation._

_However, the teen knows how this conversation is really going to go down – his mom is going to bring up what the trainer recommended, his dad will say that it's unnecessary, and they'll go back and forth until his dad walks away and silently ignores her for the next few days._

_For years, she has brought up that he should enroll in the job's health insurance plan, but he refuses; citing that he doesn't need it, the family is fine, and that her job offers her a plan and that she doesn't need to worry. Of course, his dad is wrong; his mom's plan just covers dental and vision, and she has been trying to convince him otherwise, but he's too stubborn. _

_From his room, and without any other noise to drown out the arguing, Francisco can hear his parents._

"_No sé por qué tú lo dejas jugar, sigue lastimándose y ese maldito equipo se está volviendo caro," Juan complains._

_Francisco can't figure out why his dad is complaining; he rarely gets hurt when he plays and it isn't like playing is so darn expensive if his mom can afford it on her meager salary. Francisco even remembers the last time he asked his dad to help him buy a new baseball bat and his face and tone made it seem like he asked for a million dollars._

_As Francisco watches his parents argue, he wishes that he had excuse to leave the house, but his game was over and he was sure that he wouldn't be playing until he was better, and now he's stuck with his parents who are bickering back and forth._

_Alicia complains, "¡No sé cuántas veces tengo que decirte que hagas algo! Lo juro, si no digo nada, no se hará."_

"_Pues bien, dime cuando vas a morir para que no tenga que escucharte mas."_

_When Francisco heard that, he could feel his heart racing; he isn't sure what to do, except grab his headphones and do his best to ignore the argument that his parents are having._

* * *

Lynn paces back and forth in the waiting room. It is hell to wait. What felt like minutes was only seconds according to the clocks, and her constant checking isn't making things any better. She keeps thinking that if she didn't tell him to fix up the house for Christmas then he would have been fine, they would be home drinking hot chocolate and watching tv, but she wanted a more festive holiday.

The sound of a man interrupts her thoughts, "Do you plan on ever sitting down, or do you just want to walk a hole into the ground?"

Lynn scowls and turns towards the voice that said that, "Excuse me for worrying about my boyfriend who fell off the roof."

The man scoffs, "Did he fall on his head?" Lynn shakes her head, "Then he'll be fine. Worst case he ends up in a wheelchair paralyzed, best case, the boy has a–"

"What do you mean worst case he ends up in a wheelchair?!"

"Don't interrupt. Now is it really the end of the world if he ends up in a wheelchair? Lots of people do it."

Lynn walks right in front of the man, "Don't try to cheer me up with your bull."

"I'm not. I'm just sick of seeing you pacing yourself and staring at that damn clock like you're waiting for the Reaper himself," he clears his throat, "and frankly, you look like you need a damn talking to before you jump over that damn nurse's station," he jokes.

"Ha ha," she says sarcastically before she takes a seat next to him. "So why are you here?"

The man sucks on his dentures, "My wife needs her appendix removed. If she wasn't so hardheaded like you, I would have said she was fine and gone out. Boy am I glad I listened."

"I bet she is too," Lynn says as she stares at the door, hoping that she will hear from someone so that she can go see Francisco.

"So your boyfriend fell off the roof, huh? Two-story or one story?"

"Does it matter?"

"Yeah, because a one-story drop isn't as bad a two-story one. I remember I fell off the roof once, worst thing that happened to me was a broken arm."

"It was a one story house. I came home from the post office and saw him before he fell, but he took it like a champ, didn't even complain about being in pain."

"Then why the hell did you bring him here?"

"He fell off the roof. What am I supposed to do, say that he was fine and just go about my business?"

He scoffs, "It sounds like you wasted time for nothing, if he's not hurt all the doctors are gonna do is look at him, give him an x-ray, and give you a bill."

Lynn rolls her eyes, "Yeah, well I'd rather pay and know that he's fine than just assume that he is. I know he won't tell me if something is wrong so better to let the doctors tell me than wait for it to get worse."

"So he's stubborn," the man jokes, "birds of a feather, I see."

She turns to the man, "Yeah, I seem to draw them in like a magnet."

He laughs when he realizes what she means, and soon Lynn joins him. A nurse calls Lynn to meet with the doctor and she follows behind. When she sees the doctor, he introduces himself, however, Lynn is more interested in Francisco, "Wow," she says looking at her boyfriend sleeping on the bed, "You guys had to conk him out for a shoulder injury?"

"Actually, he fell asleep on his own," the doctor corrects her. "We were able to get his shoulder back in place, however, when we removed his jacket and gloves, we noticed some bruising on his right thumb, which turned out to be broken–"

"Broken?" she asks, "What do you mean broken? He never complained about that."

The doctor pulls out his x-ray, which showed that Francisco fractured his thumb, "He also sprained his ankle, we put a brace on it, but I suggest placing an ice pack when he gets home, elevat–"

Lynn interrupts the doctor, "Yeah, yeah, I'm no stranger to sprains and aches. So how long until he wakes up?"

"We aren't sure, he was falling asleep as we were treating him," the doctor informs her. "May I ask you something?" he as he leads her away from Francisco and pulls out an amber bottle that he hands to her, "These also fell out of his jacket. We didn't recognize the name or the pills inside."

Lynn reads the label and sees Lisa's name on it, _'Of course…'_

"Do you happen to know anything about them?"

Lynn shakes her head, "No, I've never seen it before."

The doctor is a bit concerned, and begins to ask Lynn a few more questions about Francisco, from family history to any recent ailments, "I also have one more question – does Francisco happen to show any signs of confusion, anxiety or any other psychological problems recently? Maybe he sees multiple doctors after running through his prescription…"

For a minute, Lynn isn't sure why he's asking such questions, but then it hits her, "You think that he's abusing these?! What the hell?! I live with him and I think that I would notice if my boyfriend has a problem! Yes, he uses pain meds, but I saw him only take one every six or so hours, but he's part of some focus group, study, or whatever it's called with a doctor and tests. So I think that they could spot abuse!"

Nurses and other staff gather around Lynn and the doctor; worried about what may happen, however, after Lynn's outburst, she calms down and assures him that Francisco isn't abusing his pills. However, Lynn is just guessing, and as soon as Francisco wakes up, she has questions to ask.

* * *

_Francisco slowly steps out of his room; he doesn't hear anything, but he is still cautious in the event that he runs into his mom, who may be in a foul mood. After hearing their fight, he can't imagine that either one of his parents are going to be talking to one another, and unfortunately for him, that means that he's going to be the one stuck in the middle as he relays messages from one parent to another._

'_Freaking wish that Chuy or Kiké were still home,' he thinks to himself, at least then he could have someone to help him out._

_He steps out of the hallway and looks out to see if his parents are nearby; his mom is getting her purse ready to go out, when she turns to him, "Voy a la casa de Erica, ¿quieres venir?"_

_Francisco shakes his head, not wanting to go to his cousin's house, "Tengo que hacer tarea…voy con un amigo para garrar mis notas que le preste, y alamejor garro algo de comer," he says. __He's sure that his mom knows that he eavesdropped on the fight that his parents had, and both of them are ignoring the awkwardness by making an excuse._

_Alicia nods, "Está bien, pero no te quedes fuera demasiado tarde."_

_He nods and watches her walk to her car. Francisco sees that his dad's truck is missing and he figures that he probably went out again. He heads to the party store with some change to grab a crappy fried dinner of chicken and egg rolls while he passes the time._

_As he kicks a little stone down the sidewalk, he thinks about what his parents said and how it could have escalated to his dad asking such a question. He wasn't surprised; a few years ago, his mom accused him of cheating and broke his phone in anger. Francisco can't recall if it was true, just that his mom walked into his room and told him that they might break up; it never happened, but he remembers not caring so much if it did occur. Since then, he could always feel the tension in their relationship._

_Francisco walks inside of the store, orders his food, grabs a pop, and walks back home to the empty house. He grabs his laptop and looks through his assignment to take his mind off of the tension, despite being alone in the house. _

_Juan walks through the door; he notices how dark the house is and calls out to hear if anyone is home. Francisco responds from his room, and his dad walks to his son's room. He spots the box of food and grabs a piece of chicken, "¿Donde esta tu mamá?"_

_He looks up from his laptop, and notices his dad's red eyes and the smell of beer on his breath, "Fue a la casa de Erica," he answers._

"_¿Y por qué no fuiste con ella?"_

_His dad always asks that whenever his mom went anywhere alone; for some reason, and for as long as Francisco could remember, Juan believes that Alicia should always be escorted everywhere by her sons and shouldn't be out in public without them, because she's going to meet her secret lover. Francisco doesn't know how that idea got into his dad's head, which unfortunately he wasn't shy about admitting it, even to his once-elementary school aged son._

"_Porque es una adulta y puede salir sola," Francisco tells him, "y tengo tarea que hacer."_

"_Bueno," Juan says as he leaves the chicken that he bit into in the box. __"No deberías comer tanta comida frita," he warns his son._

"_Says the man who drinks and drives…" mutters Francisco. Regardless, he nods his head, despite being annoyed that his dad grabbed his food and left it the way he did._

"_¿Como esta tu __hombro__?"_

_The teen stops looking at his book, "¿Mi qué?" Juan points to his shoulder, "Oh, it's fine…"_

_Juan nods and leaves him alone without saying another word. Francisco looks down at his laptop, thinking about what happened earlier. Unlike his mom, Francisco isn't sure if his dad knew that he was eavesdropping, since he acted as if nothing happened. _

_However, he can't forget what he heard; he doesn't even know how he's supposed to._

_Francisco sighs. He closes his assignment and decides to deal with everything another day…he has plenty of time._

* * *

The words that the doctor said run through Lynn's head. She can't believe the allegations that he was making, granted, she knew that Francisco takes pills for his back, but he's never shown signs of abusing them and she would know the signs. Since the start of their relationship, Francisco has always seemed to have control, but she can see why the doctor is concerned; he fell off the roof, and felt nothing, he sprained his ankle, and said nothing, and broke his thumb without making a peep.

"I knew that if you started being one of Lisa's guinea pigs something bad would happen," she tells the sleeping man.

Lynn grabs a chair from nearby and takes a seat next to his bed. She looks at the container; she is able to count fifteen white pills, the instructions say to take them once a day and the 'prescription' was filled on the first of the month.

'_Well you're taking them like you need to…'_ Lynn shakes her head; she knows that he's fine and that he's not some drug addict. _'It's probably just a side effect or something; that's what all of Lisa's experiments usually do.'_

Francisco begins to wake up and Lynn calls out to him with a smile on his face, "Morning, sleeping beauty."

He smiles, "What happened?" he asks as he looks at the cast on his thumb and brace on his ankle.

"You broke your thumb and the doctor's think that you might have sprained your ankle…Hey Francisco, can I ask you something?" he nods, "Why didn't you tell me that you were taking Lisa's experimental medicines?" she asks, taking out the bottle to show it to him.

He reads Lisa's name and takes a deep breath, "Because you warned me not to do it…"

"So why'd you do it?"

"My back was getting worse, then my knee, and my medicine didn't feel like it was working anymore…I thought…that maybe she would have something that could help before things get worse."

Lynn can't blame him if that's the reason; he's lived more than half of his life in pain, "So that's the only reason?"

"Yes Lynn," he groans, "I don't even take my old pills and Lisa monitors me every week. I promise that this is under control."

"Everything?"

"As much as we can help it. Look, I know that you didn't want me to be a lab rat for Lisa, and I'm sorry for not telling you, but please understand why I did it," he pleads with her.

Lynn nods her head, "Alright, so long as you're getting better and Lisa isn't forcing you into taking more weird drugs and whatnot."

"She isn't," he chuckles. "Can we go home now?"

Lynn helps him up as they walk down the halls of the hospital and to the car.

As he leans his head against the car, he asks, "Lynn, are you ever afraid of what'll happen when you get older? When your body can't keep up with you and starts to fall apart."

She is surprised by the question; she hasn't really thought that far in the future, she knows that some of her old injuries will probably come back to haunt her, but she figures that she'll be able to handle a little ache here and there.

"No really. Why?"

With a somber voice, he asks, "Do you ever think that one day you won't be able to walk?"

"What are you talking about? Are you worried about that?"

He nods. His back aches to walk, his knees are starting to go, and he's sure that in a few years, he's going to struggle more to move around; if this is already happening in his thirties, he can't imagine what life will be life in another thirty years.

Lynn places her arm on his shoulder and pulls her; startling Francisco, who is worried as watches her drive with one arm, "You can get through it and I'm gonna help. I mean, I learned kinesiology in school and doctors keep bragging about medical breakthroughs, I doubt that they can't find a way to help you out."

Despite her words, she is afraid of the same thing happening to her; all her life, she was an athlete on the move, who would bounce back after injuries, but whenever she was out of commission, Lynn remembers how much she itched to move onto her next sports adventure. She doesn't like thinking about that or how the future could turn out that way, not that she ever thinks too far to begin with, but for both of their sakes, she's going to take his mind off of it and think about the good things.

Francisco smiles and gets up so that she can drive properly.

As they walk into the house, and Lynn is surprised by the decorations in the house. Francisco forgot about the work he did earlier, "Surprise," he yawns as heads to the bedroom to rest up after wasting so much time in the emergency room.

"Are you serious? Wait, you were sleeping at the hospital less than a few minutes ago."

He doesn't listen and slowly limps until he hits the bed.

Lynn follows him and watches him snore, "What am I supposed to do now? Sit in the decorated living room?"

The decorations are nice, and she appreciates it, but she feels a little guilty since it is the reason that he went up on the roof and got hurt. "Well, thanks for decorating the house," she tells him.

He snores.

She laughs and gets up to think about what she can do to kill time, but can't find anything to do, "I guess I could use a bath after hauling you back and forth. Maybe a bubble bath."

She grabs her things and heads into the bathroom. Lynn searches through the bathroom for the bubble soap, when an amber bottle filled with his old medicine grabs her attention, "Why did you keep this?" she asks out loud. She removes the bottle and curiosity begins to get the best of her, as she looks around bathroom.

As Lynn digs through every nook and cranny she finds months worth of the pills all over the room; each bottle claiming to be expired years ago, and all with a different doctors names, "He said something about this once, but what did he say?"

She can't remember; the doctor's words are scaring her a bit, she's sure that she would recognize if Francisco had a problem, "Then why the pills…"

'_He said that he's no long taking them,'_ she remembers, _'then he won't mind if I get rid of them.'_

Lynn empties the bottles into the toilet and flushes the pills; she isn't sure if there are more, but if he's being honest, then it won't matter if he's missing a few months worth of pills.

* * *

**How the little things that we see and hear impact us for life**

**If you haven't translated the Spanish, it may be worth it a little more this time around**

**Sorry for the wait, and thank you for reading**


	37. Stress and Paperwork

Lisa looks through all of her patient's files and progress reports; she pulls out Francisco's file and reads through it. His blood work came back and unfortunately for him, he is struggling to metabolize Fencotab. However, Lisa cannot determine how much his symptoms are afflicting him compared to the others in the group.

She looks over at him and notices that he is staring at the ground, ready to close his eyes. She pulls out a ball and calls out to him before throwing the ball at him.

He is surprised when the ball bounces against his torso, but before the ball falls to the ground, he is able to catch it, but regardless, he drops it when he sets his arm down.

Lisa makes a mental note of what she is witnessing, and moves onto to examine if he is suffering from another side effect.

She grabs a pair of heat-resistant gloves and hands him a probe, "Can you hold this?" Francisco does as he is told, and a stunned Lisa asks, "Do you not feel that?" He shakes his head, and Lisa takes the probe from him. She grabs some burn ointment for his hand and takes down some notes before turning to him, "This just confirmed that I will need to change how often you take Fencotab."

"What do you mean? I'm feeling fine…"

"You're lethargic, your fine motor skills are decreasing, and it appears that you cannot feel pain; The probe was set to fifty degrees Celsius and you didn't react at all. My colleague and I agreed that you and others who are also experiencing these symptoms will change your medication schedule from once every twenty-four hours to once every thirty-six hours. However, before we start we need your body to metabolize the medication already in your body and that means that you must go without it for the next fourteen days."

Francisco stares at her, "Are you serious?" she nods, "so that means I'll feel everything again?"

"Not necessarily, since there are traces of the medication that you haven't metabolized, it is possible that you won't feel anything until the final days before you start your new schedule."

He sighs in relief, "Good…for a minute I was worried."

"What about?" she inquires.

"My back, my knee; the pain was intense and I don't exactly want to go back to that."

"I understand, however, you should be fine for at least a fortnight, if you are still experiencing side effects from Fencotab you can hold off on returning. However, upon your return to the experiment, I will be conducting another blood test to determine how much of the medication you have metabolized."

Francisco nods, "Wait…how much…is a…is a…"

Rather than wait for him to finish his question, she answers, "Two weeks. That's when I request that you return so that I may conduct another blood test and determine if I should start you back on Fencotab."

He nods his head, "Wait…what if my, um, my…pain comes back?"

"It's an unlikely scenario, but in the event that you are experiencing soreness the two weeks elapses, you may temporarily return to your previous medicine, but please reserve that option for extreme cases," she warns him.

* * *

_Lynn walks into the tutoring room where she usually meets Cesar and notices that it's empty. Unlike her, he's always on time, but when she looks at the clock, Lynn realizes that running late._

"_Look at that, it finally happened!"_

_She hears a muttering sound and sees Cesar walking towards the room. His nose is buried in a book as he walks towards the room where they usually meet."_

_Lynn waves to him, "There you are!"_

_He looks up at her and gives her a short wave before going back to reading his book._

"_What are you doing?"_

_Cesar looks up from his book again, "I'm sorry, what?"_

_She repeats herself, "What are you doing? I thought that you used today to relax by drilling my head with science facts."_

"_I'm just studying for a test. I have to make sure that I get a good grade–"_

"_You always make good grades, I think," she interrupts. "So why are you worrying? It's your senior year, relax."_

_He sighs loudly, "Lynn, I still have to study and I still want to keep my GPA where it is so that I can go to grad school."_

_She takes his book, "I doubt that you won't be able to…" she stares at the book and immediately gives it back to him when she realizes that she's struggling to look at the words. "Okay, so your stuff is tough, but it's not like you can't take a day off."_

"_Speaking of day off," Cesar starts, "Do you mind if I take a rain check on today's lesson? I know that its last minute, but I have a test this week to study for."_

_Lynn stumbles a bit with her words; while she doesn't like to admit it, she does enjoy these Sunday sessions with him, especially since they don't always have time to hang out between the week, "Yeah, I get it…do I just, you know, leave?"_

_He grabs his things, "Um, yeah, unless you want to get another tutor."_

_She shakes her head, "Nah, I figure one Sunday off isn't going to kill me."_

_Cesar nods and heads out the door to let the staff at the tutoring center know of the last minute change in scheduling. Lynn follows behind him and he's surprised that she's walking alongside him._

"_Why are you following me?" he asks._

"_You know that we live near each other, is it really that weird that I'm walking beside you?"_

"_I guess not," he tells her as he walks down the path while reading his book._

_Cesar walks quietly, but he is distracted from his reading when he notices that Lynn is purposely kicking small leaf piles as they walk back to their dorms._

"_Can you please stop that?" he asks._

_Lynn complies and the two quietly continue their trek. She stares at the buildings as the sun begins to set and the night sky begins to appear; the lights are turning on, the wind blows between the buildings and the leaves are falling from the trees._

_Neither student is paying too much attention to the path as they walk until Lynn notices that Cesar, who is reading his book, is about to hit a light post. She takes his arm and pulls him away, "Maybe you should stop reading your book and look out in front of you."_

_He blushes in embarrassment, "Yeah, I guess I should."_

_The two walk in silence. While Lynn is occupied with the sights of falling leaves and every nearby noise, all Cesar could focus on is his test and his applications._

_He opens his book again, but Lynn takes it from him, "Pay attention, you don't want to fall and look stupid, do you?"_

_Cesar takes his book back, "I think I'll be fine."_

"_Then don't open your book, besides, we're almost there, you can read this boring junk later."_

"_It's not junk," Cesar corrects her._

"_So you admit it's boring," Lynn jokes._

_He does, but he isn't going to give her the satisfaction._

* * *

Greg looks at the order slip, "One order of mac and cheese bites, one order of jalapeno poppers, and two Lynn-sagnas," he calls out to the crew.

The sounds of knife chopping, bubbling oil, and footsteps begin to overtake the kitchen as the crew begins to make the order. When Lynn first joined, things were a little rocky as the crew tried to get used to their new teammate, but she eventually managed to flourish, despite having to constantly remind her not to slip in occasional bites of food.

Greg turns around and sees Lynn about to eat a popper, "Lynn!" he calls out, "stop eating the jalapeno poppers!"

She immediately drops the appetizer, and turns to him, "I just picked it up and I didn't put them on the plate! And there's one more than in the usual order!"

"That doesn't mean you eat it! The food is for the customers, not us – eat later when you're on your break," he tells her.

"Fine!" she complains.

As Rob takes the plate of poppers and places it for the waitress to take, when he looks over and sees Lynn Sr. walking through the entrance. He leans over to Lynn and whispers, "I think you have company."

"What?" she asks, confused by what he's talking about.

The elder Loud walks into the restaurant's kitchen, and calls out to Lynn, "Can you come here a minute?"

Lynn sighs. She sees her dad and sees the papers in his hands; she knows what he wants to talk about. The last time that she was placed to do office work, she randomly placed numbers on the order forms, and she's sure that he noticed.

The rest of the kitchen crew goes back to work to complete a new order, and Lynn looks back, hoping that her dad's talk with her isn't going to take too long.

The two walk to his office and each of them take a seat as Lynn Sr. shows his daughter an order slip with obscenely high numbers on each line.

"Lynn, why did you place an order for 2400 eggs?" he asks.

Like a child that is being punished, Lynn looks away from her dad's gaze and says, "I thought that I was ordering two hundred eggs."

"Was that how many eggs you needed?"

She mutters under her breath, "I don't know."

He sighs; this has been going on for too long, he knows that she managed to take to the kitchen, but he can't get through to her in terms of the office work. He doesn't blame her, he hated it too, but told her that this was going to be part of the job and she can't just shirk it.

"Why can't I hire someone to do it? It'll probably be easier."

"We don't have the money for that, not unless you want to take a pay cut to hire the office manager."

Lynn groans, "Fine, I will try again when we have to make another order."

* * *

_Lynn knocks on the door. She has a bag of a variety of sports equipment and she does not plan on going down easily with the day she has planned. All week, he has ignored her attempts to reach him, and while Lynn is used to him taking his studies seriously, she knows that he is stressed and she didn't like seeing him look like he is going to fall apart._

_When no one answered the door, Lynn pressed her ear on the door, "C'mon Cesar! I know you're in there!"_

_He opens the door and spots her with a bag of balls, "Lynn, what are you doing?"_

"_I thought that I'd be nice and get you out of your room for a bit; maybe we can go play, get something to eat, or something fun that isn't boring graduate school stuff."_

_Cesar attempts to close the door, but Lynn blocks him with her foot. He pretends to open the door to let her guard down, in hopes of getting her to leave him alone, but Lynn manages to muscle her way in regardless._

"_You aren't getting rid of me that easy," she warns him as she nudges her shoulder through the opening and into his dorm. "Do you want to go to Palmer Field? You look like you could use a break."_

_He shakes his head, "Not really, I still have to study."_

_She takes his hand, "C'mon! You told me that studying does no good if you don't take a break every once in a while."_

"_That doesn't apply in this situation, and I know you, Lynn. We go out and play and next thing I know, we've been gone for hours."_

"_That's not true!"_

_He doesn't believe her. While Lynn is good at taking a break from studying, she's terrible at getting back to it, especially if sports get in her way._

"_No," he firmly tells her. "I can create my own breaks," he says as he shows her a timer._

_Lynn grabs the timer and tosses it to the wall, "Now, we can go play."_

_Cesar pushes her towards the door, "Goodbye, Lynn."_

"_C'mon! A change of scenery will be good for you, and the fresh air, and a healthy brain needs a healthy body, right?"_

_He rolls his eyes. He knows that Lynn isn't going to leave him alone until he gives in, but he doesn't want to waste time playing around. _

_He sighs, "One hour, and no telling me to keep going, or saying that an hour hasn't passed, or anything; one hour from the moment we step out of this room."_

"_Deal!" she says as she grabs his hand and pulls him towards Palmer Field._

_With midterms underway, the field was mostly empty, except for a few students who are reading or presumably taking a break from their studies. Lynn pulls out a soccer ball from her bag and kicks it towards him. Cesar goes along with it, but Lynn, in the spirit of making things more interesting, dribbles the ball around and kicks it from further away; meanwhile, Cesar stays put and kicks it from the same location._

_She tries again to get him into the spirit of the game, but once again, he stays put. Lynn approaches him and gently kicks the ball towards him, and as he makes an attempt at the ball, she steals the ball in hopes of bringing out the competitor in him._

_It doesn't work._

_Lynn kicks the ball away and she looks at him, hoping that he would start running after the ball, but he doesn't move._

_She runs towards the ball and kicks it back to him, "You know, if you didn't want to be here, you could've said so," she complains._

_Cesar opens his mouth, and quickly closes it before he lets out his true feelings, "I did say so, but…" he starts, but he feels his frustrations releasing, "Lynn, you are so stubborn, everything has to be your way and if I so much as speak up, I'm the bad guy!" he closes his eyes. "If I want to do something, I can't! Because someone else has to win and I have to be the one that understands because I can!" he complains before kicking the ball into the street._

_Lynn looks over at the ball, and watches as the cars narrowly miss the ball._

"_I'm sorry," he says after finishing his rant. "That wasn't about you, even if it did start that way."_

_She turns to him and nods her head in agreement, "I-It's okay, I should probably leave you alone to get back to your studying and stuff," she says as she steps towards the street._

_Cesar nods his head, "Yeah, I should."_

* * *

Francisco buries himself in his sheets. For the past week, he has been off of Fencotab and off of his own medication and it feels like his body is trying to make up for everything that he numbed with the medication. His back radiates more pain and it feels as though it was extending all around his body. Minor bumps are becoming more painful than before and he's sure that if he doesn't find relief that he's going to go mad.

The nerves in his legs feel like they are jittering more than he is used to, and he kicks his legs in an attempt to get them to stop.

"Hey!" Lynn snaps, as she kicks Francisco back, "What was that for?"

He shakes his head and buries himself under his blanket. Lynn glares at him. For the last couple of days, she has ignored him tossing and turning in bed, groaning, and being more irritable than normal, but now he is getting into the habit of kicking in his sleep and she's getting sick of it.

She pulls the blanket from him, "Hey! I asked what was that for?"

Francisco takes the blanket, "My legs are bugging me and I needed to move them."

Lynn rolls her eyes, "Then walk! You've kicked me enough times and I'm getting sick of it."

He gets out of bed. Lisa warned him that it would probably take weeks before he would feel pain again, but he has been going without medicine for less than a week, and he feels terrible.

'_She said that I could take my medicine…I should do that…'_

Francisco quietly walks to the bathroom and he opens the medicine cabinet, "She said that I can take it under extreme circumstance, so I'm sure that one…little…pill won't be so bad…"

He can't find the amber bottle.

He looks around, shuffling containers, but he can't it. Francisco remembers that he has another bottle under the sink, he slowly bends down, "I know that I have one here…"

It isn't there either.

"What the?"

Francisco moves things around, and he begins to silently panic, "Where is it?" he asks himself.

He lets himself slowly fall to the ground and he holds back a scream of pain; he is determined to find his medicine and alleviate this nightmare. However, he can't find any of the pills that he had hidden around the bathroom.

'_Did I really use them all up?'_

He closes the door under the sink, "Lynn!" he calls out. "Lynn!"

The bathroom door opens, "What?" Lynn asks before seeing Francisco laying the floor in pain. "Are you okay?" she asks, worried about him.

"I fell. Can you help me up?"

She helps him to his feet, "What happened?"

"I just got dizzy," he lies. "Can you, um, can you…get me a glass of water?"

"Yeah," before she goes, "Do you want a massage? It could help."

He nods, "Sure, but first the water."

When Lynn is gone, Francisco reaches over to the medicine cabinet; all he can find to help him is an over-the-counter pain reliever, it's not the best, but it'll have to do. Before she returns, he pops two under his tongue, and places the container back in its place.

"Here you go," Lynn offers.

Francisco takes the glass, "Thanks," he says, swallowing the water and pills.

She places her arm around his shoulder, "Now let's go loosen you up so that we can go back to sleep."

"Just go easy on me," he playfully pleads.

* * *

_As Cesar writes on the whiteboard, Lynn looks over at him and wonders what happened with his test and what is going on with his grad school application. Normally, he's calm, but seeing him the way she did last week, made her curious about what really is going on with him._

_He turns around, and before he is able to say anything, "How'd your test go?" she asks._

_He sighs, "Lynn, we're not here to talk about me, we're here to help you with class."_

_She shrugs her shoulders, "I wanna know."_

"_It went fine," He turns back to the whiteboard, "Now–"_

"_Are you sure? Because it sounds like it didn't."_

_He stresses to her, "I don't want to talk about it. Can we please get through this lesson so that I can work on my applications?!"_

_Lynn is surprised by his outburst, "I was just trying to be nice," she complains, "but if you're going to be like that, maybe I'm better off just leaving you alone for another week."_

"_You can just get another tutor, you know," he reminds her._

"_I don't want another tutor, I like you," she tells him before realizing what she said, "I mean, I like you as a tutor, not a boyfriend, I'm sure that you like me…as a tutee! Wait, is that a word?"_

_He didn't catch the double meaning immediately, but he can see that she's getting flustered, "Yes, that's a word, and yes, that is correct. Um…look, I'm just exhausted from everything going on in my head." Cesar takes a seat in front of her, "I'm thinking about how I want to keep my record of being on the dean's list," she smiles at that, "I'm thinking about what schools to apply to when I do grad school applications, I'm thinking about how one bad grade ruins everything. The closer we get to finals, I harder my heart races, and I'm sure I wouldn't know what a heart attack feels like," he jokes._

_Lynn chuckles, "Is that, um, everything that's stressing you out?"_

"_Not really," he says, but he doesn't elaborate._

"_Then what's bugging you?"_

"_It's not important," Cesar says. "Anyway, let's get back to your lesson."_

"_It'll probably help," she mentions. "I mean, I don't know what a heart attack feels like either, but maybe letting out some steam can help you so neither one of us find out for decades to come."_

_He can tell that she's not going to stop, "Fine, I'll tell you later, but can we can please get back on track?"_

"_Can you tell me over dinner?"_

_Cesar stays quiet, "Um…sure. We can go get something to eat after…after our lesson, er, yeah…" he turns to the whiteboard and continues their session._

_Lynn hardly pays attention as he talks, and this time it isn't just because she's bored and wants to play with the tennis ball in her backpack. She looks over at him, but she doesn't listen to a word he's saying. She can't put her finger on what's going on, all she knows is that she has felt this longing feeling before._

_He turns around, "Lynn, open your textbook."_

_She snaps from her thoughts and digs out the book from her backpack; she feels the felt on the tennis ball, and pulls out the ball. Cesar quickly takes it from her and hides it away from her; she knows that look – play after studying for a few minutes._

"_I'm gonna want it back."_

"_I know, you can have it back when we go out to get dinner."_

_She blushes and quickly opens her book to look for the section that he's going over._

* * *

Lynn looks through all of the paperwork, but despite reading the first page over and over again all she can do was concentrate on the ticking of the wall clock. She begins to stare at it and is focused on each hand, before settling on the second hand as it moves all around the face of the clock.

"Lynn, how's it going?" interrupts her father.

She snaps out of her trance and makes a mental note of how many seconds she counted before she was interrupted, "Uhh…fine," she says as she tries to tidy up her father's desk.

He takes the paper from the desk, "LJ, you haven't finished one of the order sheets. This needs to get done soon so we can get the truck here with our supplies."

"I know."

He looks through all of the sheets and nothing was done, "You've been in here for over half an hour, what have you been doing?"

Since she has been left alone in the office, all Lynn could recall doing was scribbling on printer paper, playing basketball with the scribbled paper, making paper airplanes, and counting over one thousand seconds on the clock.

Lynn sheepishly says, "Thinking about how to get back into the kitchen."

He sighs. For months, he has wanted her to learn the office side of owning the restaurant, but unlike the kitchen, Lynn has shown absolutely no interest in doing so. Every time that he tries to explain something to her, she dozes off or she gets distracted by something else.

Lynn Sr. takes the chair in front of the desk and places it next to her, he pulls up the inventory sheets from the computer and shows her how much was ordered the week before and how much was used since the last inventory.

"How much do we need to order for the restaurant?"

Despite the gentle tone in her dad's voice, Lynn can tell that he's disappointed in her for being as hardheaded and not learning the simple skill as quickly as he wants her to. However, every time that she looks at the empty sheets, she is reminded of being school and how much she struggled with her homework, especially if she is left alone. She's sure that the only reason she succeeded was just because someone looked over her, but she can't count on her dad to visit every week to help her get it done.

Lynn fills out the first form well enough, and her dad walks away from computer and let's her do it on her own, "I'm going to go get a cup of coffee, I'll be right back. Please have the next sheet filled out when I get back," he pleads with her.

She nods her head, but as soon as the door closes, Lynn can feel her mind drifting from the 'assignment' in front of her. As she looks down, the letters become blurry and her eyes immediately gaze over at the red collar of her chef's coat hanging on the hook of the door.

Lynn doesn't move and stares, unaware of the passage of time.

Her dad opens the door and sees her shaking her head after being brought back to the order forms, "LJ," he calls out to her. Lynn Sr. looks at the sheet; it's the same one that he left her with before leaving to get his coffee. "Why haven't you done anything? We've gone over this multiple times."

She groans, "I don't know. I'm not interested, I just want to go back to cooking in the kitchen!" she complains.

He takes a deep breath; the work isn't difficult, but somehow she manages to make it harder than necessary. He would understand if she didn't know how to do the work, but he has gone over it with her multiple times, but she's still being stubborn.

"Just go," he sighs, "but you're getting this paperwork done before tomorrow morning. I mean it."

With a large smile, Lynn grabs her chef's coat and runs back to the kitchen.

* * *

_Cesar takes a seat as Lynn goes to get some food; he knows that he shouldn't be taking out his frustrations on the people around him, but he can't help but feel the mounting pressure as applications are due._

_Lynn returns with bags of food and she begins to set it out for dinner. When he is sure that she's done, Cesar reaches for a fry and is startled by Lynn's complaint, "Hey! You didn't tell me that you wanted something to eat."_

_As he looks at the spread that he assumed was for the two of them, he apologizes, "I'm sorry, but I thought that it was for the two of us."_

_She sighs, "Fine, you can have some."_

_As the two silently eat, Cesar contemplates telling her about his home life; up until now, he's done a good job to not bring it up to anyone, but he knew that at some point it was going to come out, but at least he can say that he did a good job for the first three years. _

"_My brother…he gets all the attention, meanwhile, I have to help my parents with him. You know, for the longest time, I was so used to thinking about how any of my decisions will affect my brother and my parents that I rarely ever thought about myself."_

"_Why? I mean, you're an adult," she asks. "I guess not then, although you seem like you'd be the type of guy who would be old from birth."_

_Almost by instinct, Cesar was about to say why, but he shakes his head, "Nope, I told myself that college was going to be for me to be a little greedy, and yet, my decisions are still with them in mind," he reminds himself._

_Lynn is confused by what he is saying, "What? What are you talking about?"_

"_When I was deciding on what schools to apply for college, my counselor, who knew me and my family situation for a while, told me to leave the city, maybe even the state, so that I can grow without worrying about them. He thought that I was placing too much pressure on myself–"_

"_That still doesn't–"_

"_I'm getting to it. Anyway, I don't think that anything changed. I'm still worrying myself about my future, and all I can think about is how I'm going to be responsible for him when my parents are gone."_

"_Why do you think that is? Why can't your brother live alone?"_

_Cesar takes a deep breath, "He can't live alone."_

"_Why not?"_

"_Because I don't want to say, that's why," he sighs, "Look, all my life, everyone in family would tell me, 'You're so lucky that you're smart, you can be successful and take care of your family' or 'You better study hard Cesar, because when your parents are gone, you'll have to take care of your brother' over and over again. You know, sometimes, I felt like no one knew a thing about me except for my brother."_

_Lynn takes a bite from her sandwich; she doesn't know what to say, and she's sure that she'll blurt out something stupid that he doesn't want to hear._

_Cesar breaks the silence, "I know that we haven't known each other for long, but what's something you know about me?"_

_She swallows her food, "Umm…you're smart…and umm…hold on."_

"_Great," he sighs, "Just like everyone else."_

"_C'mon! You said it yourself, we haven't known each other for long," she defends. "How much do you know about me?"_

"_You're the fifth of eleven children, you're here on a scholarship and on the softball team, you live in a city just outside of Detroit, you like sports, and you aren't much of a scholar unless you have a fire lit under you." _

_She shrugs her shoulders, "I paint a colorful picture."_

"_No, I listen when you talk. Unlike you, who is more caught up in herself than others." Both are surprised by the sudden outburst, "Lynn, I'm–"_

"_You play piano…" she pauses to think, "You have never gone to a football game, you really like school, so much that you have two majors, you're from New York City, and you want to run a hospital – see! I can pay attention to you."_

_Cesar smiles; it felt nice to have someone at least remember his career goal._

"_In all my time here, I don't think that I ever made a real friend," Cesar admits, "maybe an acquaintance that I can greet if we see each other, but I wouldn't ever call them an actual friend."_

_Upon hearing that Lynn is surprised; while he doesn't seem overly social, she always assumed that he had a group of close friends since he always claimed to be busy. Of course, she was surprised that he didn't consider her a friend. _

"_Wait!" Lynn exclaims, "You didn't think we were friends?!"_

_Cesar shrugs his shoulders, "We typically interact on Sundays, and we rarely hang out outside our tutoring sessions. I thought that you didn't see us as nothing more than that."_

"_Then we're hanging out more often!" she declares, "We'll get dinner, or go watch a game, maybe tailgate, or hang out at the library reading or whatever else you want to do."_

"_I'd like that."_

"_Was it like that back home? You know, friends wise?"_

"_No, but I still didn't have a lot of people that I talked to; I was shy, bookish, and everyone wanted to know about…not the point…"_

_Lynn took another bite of her sandwich to keep herself from asking anything, but curiosity was eating away at her, "What's wrong with your brother?"_

"_It's not important," he reminds her._

"_I think it is."_

"_I don't. I don't want to repeat the cycle where all people do is ask me about him, so please drop it."_

_To break the silence, she speaks up, "I sometimes felt like I was overlooked, I guess that's expected when you have ten siblings, but I always felt like my older sisters didn't want me around because I was annoying and my younger siblings thought that I was too rough. And when it came to my friends, I always felt like I was behind, like I had to work harder just to barely keep up with them."_

_He nods his head to let her know that she understands._

"_I guess that isn't a problem for you," she says._

"_No, it wasn't…I had to grow up a little quicker than my peers–"_

"_So you weren't an old man from birth," Lynn jokes._

_Cesar laughs sarcastically, "No, I just had a lot of responsibilities placed on me as a kid. I had to think about my future, but I didn't have a lot of people to help me – the curse of being the first person in your family to go to college," he jokes._

_She smiles. Lynn doesn't know what that's like, she's been able to be a little childish and no one batted an eye, but at the same time it sucked that people didn't take her seriously, especially when she was hoping to prove herself._

"_Have you talked with the counselor to help you out with everything?" she asks._

_He nods, "Yeah, got letters of recommendation and I'm trying to think of what schools I'm going narrow it down to."_

_Lynn looks at him, "Do you know where you're going to apply?"_

"_I have some schools in mind, I might even stick around here," he says with a smile, which she returns. _

* * *

Francisco peeks out of the curtains as he watches the cars that are passing by, "C'mon where the hell are you?" he asks as he looks around. It's early in the day, but he feels strange peeking around the near empty neighborhood waiting for his brother to arrive.

He thought that he was over having to do this, but he's desperate to relieve his pain and get back to some sense of normalcy. After finding out that his medicine was gone, possibly after telling Lynn that he was no longer taking them, he made a call to his brother and begged for him to visit so that he can get something to treat his pain until he can go back on Fencotab.

Francisco soon feels a vibration in his pocket. He answers the phone and his brother begins talking.

"_Man, I thought that you were quitting on me,_" Kiké jokes, "_What happened? Were you thinking about going straight?_"

Francisco rolls his eyes, he has been suffering for days and he couldn't take it anymore; every bump, every step, every sudden movement became hell and he had to do something about it.

"Does it matter?"

"_Maybe I miss my little brother,_" he teases. "_It's not often that I'm in Royal Woods._"

"That's your own fault," Francisco tells him, "Are you nearby or are you planning on making me wait all day?"

"_What's the rush? I doubt you're that busy that if you're at home this early in the morning. Besides, you know that I don't come for free._"

"What do you want?" the younger brother sighs.

"_A place to stay,_" he answers.

"That's it?" Francisco asks, not believing his brother.

"_I rarely ask for more._"

Aside from his younger brother's food, tv, and sometimes money.

"How long?"

"_A week or so._"

"What's a 'week or so'?"

"_It doesn't matter. I'll be there before you know it,_" Kiké tells him before hanging up the phone.

Francisco sighs and takes a seat as he waits, but minutes turn to hours and he is growing more frustrated as he waits around for his brother. Kiké isn't answering his phone and while this is giving Francisco time to think of what he's going to tell Lynn, he wants to rid himself of his back and knee pain as soon as possible.

A knock at the front door grabs Francisco's attention and he slowly walks towards the door to let his brother in.

"Hey, sorry I'm–"

Francisco doesn't hear his brother out before he takes Kiké's bags away from the entrance and takes then inside to search through them for the medicine that his brother typically brings. When he finds the large plastic bag full of medicine, he pulls out an amber bottle and consumes two pills to finally put an end to his suffering.

"Jeez, nice to see you too," the older brother complains, as he closes the door and walks towards his younger brother. When he notices that his brother consumed two pills instead of his usual one, he calls him out, "Hey!" Kiké slaps Francisco's shoulder, "What happened to just one every six hours?"

The younger brother bites down on his lower lip, "I'm in pain and it's getting worse, sue me."

"Great…if your damn habit keeps going like this, I'm gonna end up having to show up more."

For years, Kiké has brought him medicine, and while Francisco isn't happy to have him stick around for an undetermined period of time, but if hearing his older brother's keeps him from shopping arousing suspicion and possibly worse, he can endure it.

"This is the first time since you started this that I've had to go up to two pills. If I keep going at this rate–"

"I'm gonna have to bring stronger stuff," Kiké interrupts.

Francisco rolls his eyes, "No you aren't, so where have you been this time around?"

Kiké shakes his head, "Nowhere you need to know." He checks through his pockets and pulls out a small box, "By the way, I brought something for Elena from her dear old tío Kiké."

Francisco takes the box; inside are a pair of ruby earrings, "Thanks, I guess…"

"I guess? I'm being nice my niece and you can't even be more appreciative, you're an ass, Pancho."

"Well excuse me for being wary of where you got them, I don't exactly want my daughter to be wearing stolen jewelry just because _tío Kiké_ wants to be nice," Francisco retorts.

Kiké scoffs and takes the earrings back, "Fine, be that way, but don't ever say that I don't do nice things for your girl. So anyway, where's the miniature troll you call a girlfriend? "

Francisco glares at his older brother, "Would you stop that already?! I am so sick and tired of hearing you insult her over and over again like its nothing – it's been years, so stop making fun of her for something you probably can't remember!"

"Hey, she's not exactly blameless either. She insults me, and I just have to take it. She punches me, I have to take it. You're being a fucking hypocrite, baby brother. What does she wrap you around her little finger by doing freaky stuff for you?"

Francisco punches Kiké in the arm and walks away to hide the medicine from Lynn. When he returns he asks, "Since you're staying here for a week, can you at least not pick a fight with her every chance you get?"

Kiké crosses his arms, "Only if she agrees to sleep in the damn basement."

The younger brother punches him in the arm.

"Son of a bitch!" he yells, as he holds onto his shoulder.

In a mocking tone, Francisco mimics, "Son of a bitch!" he looks back to Kiké, "Don't pretend that you didn't deserve it.

The older brother sticks his tongue out. For the sake of tonight, he would at least be a little more civil, but he wasn't making any promises for tomorrow or even the next encounter that the two have another day.

Lynn opens the front door, "I'm home. Hey Francisco, why is there a car without license plates in the driveway?"

Kiké answers, "Probably because I'm taking a vacation and visiting my brother here in Royal Woods. You know the last thing I want is for the cops to find me."

"Seriously? Why the hell are you here, you–"

"I was invited," Kiké interrupts.

"Yeah, right!" she turns to Francisco, who is nodding his head, "What the hell, why did you say that he could stay here?!"

"He's in town and Chuy and mom don't have enough room for him and I at least have the spare room."

"So why can't he stay in a motel or under a bridge or something?"

Francisco sighs, "Lynn, I get that this isn't ideal, but it's not going to be for long and then he'll be out of our hair," he assures her.

Lynn groans, "Fine!" she turns to Kiké, "So…how long are you staying?"

With a coy smile, he says, "A week."

Lynn feels her blood boiling and sirens go off in her head. A whole week of being stuck with him! She can't believe it. Luckily, there is work, but with her dad making her do paperwork more than cooking, she was beginning to hate it more.

Kiké places a hand on her shoulder, "Since you're dressed for it, I'd like a fancy dinner out of you. Oh, and actually try to make something other than the cheap frozen crap you eat."

"Oh that does it!" she tackles him to the ground and both of them began to grip each other in an attempt at keeping the other from escaping. Lynn tries to throw some punches but eventually Kiké pins her to the floor to keep her down.

Francisco sighs as he sees them both fighting on the ground. He cautiously approaches them and tries to pry his brother off of Lynn, "Would you two stop fighting like a bunch of children?! Just give me a week of peace, and then everything goes back to normal."

Both of them turn away from each other and murmur in agreement under their breath.

* * *

**We finally have a little progress into Lynn and Cesar's relationship, the not-so-hidden reason that ****Kiké comes to visit Francisco is revealed, and yes, even those excuses that Francisco mentioned in the previous chapters were ****Kiké. We'll get to the whole why eventually, but for now we can enjoy the effects, especially after Lynn was so insistent that he was fine**

**Thank you everyone for reading and see you next time**


	38. Houseguests and Headaches

Three weeks. That's how long Kiké has stuck around and to the unfortunate man in the middle, it felt like neither his brother nor Lynn have been able to be civil for more than a few minutes. Every day was a new fight as well as a fight continuing from the day before; from cooking to cleanliness to the remote, but all Francisco could focus from the last couple of days are headaches that derived from the fighting.

He knew that by letting Kiké stick around that the tension was going to rise, but he and Lynn are being ridiculous.

Loud music begins to play from the hallway bathroom which quickly bothers Lynn, "What happened to a week?! Why is he still here?" she asks into the mattress. She notices that Francisco isn't answering her, so she pulls on his beard to wake him up and get a response.

He slaps her hands away, "I don't know, Lynn!" Francisco groans before he gets out of bed; he feels dizzy and takes a deep breath before walking towards his brother.

"Morning Pancho," the elder brother says. "Are you finally going to get around to shaving after three weeks?"

Francisco grabs his radio and unplugs it, "I don't want to hear either of you two fighting today. One damn day is all I want." He turned towards his room and yells, "Got it?!"

Lynn walks into the hall, "Got what?"

Francisco takes a deep breath before attempting to speak again, but everything becomes blurry and he tumbles towards the wall. Lynn and Kiké hold him to keep him from falling onto the floor, and hear him quietly repeat, "No fighting…just one day…to stop the headaches…"

Lynn and Kiké turn to each other, and despite silently agreeing with the fallen man, neither one is thrilled about being kind to the other, but they will do it just to give Francisco some peace and quiet.

Francisco gets up and walks past them and goes back to bed to enjoy some silence before he has to pick up Elena. Behind his back, Lynn purposefully bumps into Kiké's shoulder and heads to kitchen to get breakfast started.

As Kiké gets changed, he is enticed by the smell of bacon and eggs. He walks over to the kitchen and sees that Lynn has made a simple breakfast, which she is already plating. He looks over to grab a bite, but she quickly slaps it away with a spatula.

'Get your own,' she mouths to him.

'He's asleep. Why let it go to waste?'

'It isn't going to waste,' she responds as she takes Francisco's food to him.

Kiké rolls his eyes and steals a slice of bacon from her plate when she's not looking.

As Lynn approaches the bedroom door, Francisco steps out, "I made breakfast, do you want some?" she asks as she follows him to the front door.

Francisco takes the plate, "Thanks," he says, "but it's a little early, don't you think?"

She shrugs her shoulders, "It's not like I could go back to sleep."

"Fair point," he says, "I'll be back in a bit, I'm going to go pick up Elena."

Lynn looks over at the kitchen, where she spots Kiké eating her bacon, "How long are you going to be gone for?"

Francisco spots the two angrily glaring at one another, but he doesn't care to do anything about it. He tells her, "I don't know, but I should be back soon."

His brother doesn't say a thing, but Lynn notices that Francisco is still stumbling on his feet as he grabs his coat and keys.

"Are you sure you want to go out?" asks Lynn. "I can go get her," she offers with hope in her voice.

He shakes his head, "I'm fine. Besides, I shouldn't take more than an hour."

As soon as he closes the door, Francisco can hear muffled yells coming from the house, and he is tempted to go back inside to mediate, but decides to continue to pick up Elena.

"They'll be fine," he tries to convince himself, until he hears the sound of a window smashing. "Well…I guess I can go to the hardware store, anything to get away from them." Francisco hops into the truck and opens the glove compartment to pull out an amber bottle and take out a pill.

As he drives towards Huntington Oaks, his phone rings – it's Lisa.

"Hey Lisa, how are you?"

"_I am well. I am inquiring about why you have yet to return to the experiment. It has been three weeks, and the other subjects have returned._"

"I'm still feeling some of the effects, and rather than bother you, I figured that it would be better to get back with you when I know that the medicine if out of my system."

"_I can perform a blood test at your earliest convenience."_

"I've got Elena this weekend and I told my mom that I would help with a project on Monday. How about I get back to you on Tuesday?"

"_I can make a house call,_" she offers. "_I only need one vial of blood, which should only take a few minutes of your time._"

Francisco tries to think of an excuse, "Yeah, like I said this weekend is no good, Elena doesn't take well to the sight of needles and blood."

"_Her presence isn't necessary for a simple blood draw._"

He sighs, "Fine, I'll head to your lab Monday morning before I go see my mom."

"_Very well, I'll be waiting._"

* * *

_The Spanish teacher writes on the blackboard, and turns to the class, "Group projects!" she says happily._

_The class groans at the thought of a group project, but upon hearing the news, Lynn turns to Francisco and signals him to let him know that she want to be his partner._

_He nods his head before going back to paying attention on the assignment. Francisco has never worked with Lynn on a group project, but he figures that working with someone he already got along with would be better than a stranger._

_The teacher begins handing out sheets of papers with the guideline as she continues talking, "I want each group of two to do a presentation on a…"_

_Lynn stops listening to the teacher as she looks down on the sheet of paper, which mentions that each group of two has to do a report and a presentation answering questions in Spanish in front of the class. Luckily, she picked the best person ever to partner up with in the whole class._

_As the students get up from their seats to pick out a partner, and Lynn makes a mad dash to sit next to him and declare him her partner._

"_Why do you want to be my partner on this project?"_

"_Because you're my friend and because you speak Spanish better than I do."_

_Francisco chuckles; he's barely better than her and that's onlybecause he can practice every day, "Are you sure about that?"_

"_¡Si!"_

"_Fine, let's go to the library after school," he suggests._

_Lynn doesn't say a thing; she doesn't want to spend time at the library, it's too quiet which makes it harder to concentrate on what she's doing. She wants to suggest her house, but she can imagine that her sisters will make a big deal that Francisco is visiting, plus it'll be noisy if they're all home._

"_How about your house?"_

"_What? Why? The library is fine."_

"_But it's gonna full of others doing their projects, full tables, and everyone is gonna be using the computers in the computer lab; we might as well go to your house."_

_Francisco stops to think about it; she has a point, but he doesn't want her to come over, and going to her house is probably worse for a project. _

"_Fine, but only for a little bit, I want to get this project done before the weekend."_

* * *

When Elena and Francisco walk through the front door, they are met with the sight of Kiké placing Lynn in a head lock as she tries to knock him over. Neither one is acknowledging the father nor daughter until Francisco loudly clears his throat. The two look up and let go of the other.

Francisco looks over at the broken window in the dining room, "Boy am I glad stopped at the hardware store," clearly bothered by the break in the middle of winter.

"Don't blame me," Kiké says, "she just snapped and tackled me to the ground."

"After you ate my bacon!"

"Because that's the best reason to throw a plate at someone's head."

"Only because it was closer, if not I would have gone for a–"

Francisco stops the fighting, "Enough already! Three weeks and neither one of you can actually make some sort of peace?!"

"Tell him to leave!" Lynn tells him.

Kiké snickers, "He won't. I'm beloved."

"For a microsecond," Lynn snaps.

Francisco can feel a headache creep in; he asked for one day and they couldn't even handle an hour. He knew that asking was a stretch, especially when they seem to fight the minute one of them looks over in the same direction as the other.

"Jeez," Kiké complains, "would it kill you to remember to put on deodorant?"

"Better than smelling like you bathed in cologne."

Elena whispers to her dad, "Why do they argue the way they do?"

"I don't even remember," Francisco says, with a defeated tone in his voice. "Luckily we stopped at the hardware store."

As she points to the broken window, "Is that why we did it?"

"I'm just happy that they didn't break a hole in the wall again," he sighs.

Elena grabs her backpack, "I'm going to go study in my room."

Francisco nods his head, "You may want to put on some headphones to drown out their noise," he warns her, despite Lynn and Kiké heading in opposite directions.

She nods her head and walks away.

For the next couple of hours, Elena turns on her music and pretends to study; she doesn't feel motivated and coming to her dad's place for the last couple of weeks has drained her more than she's willing to admit. Regardless, she comes over, because her dad looks like he could use someone else around to keep Lynn and her tío from burning down the house. Each time she visits, Elena notices that his appearance is getting worse, but she attributes it to the stress that he's enduring of constantly breaking up fights or fixing something that they broke.

Hours later, the thirteen-year-old takes off her headphones; her ears are aching after wearing them for so long, but she is surprised to be met with silence. After the last couple of weeks, she was used to hearing the sounds of fighting that she resorted to hiding away in her room while Lynn and her tío fight for whatever silly reason pops into one of their heads.

A knock at the door grabs her attention, Francisco opens the door, "Dinner's almost ready."

"Okay, I'll be right there."

Elena takes a seat and all four of them eat quietly until Kiké breaks the silence and asks Elena, "How's school going?"

She is surprised, but answers, "Fine."

"Really? No panic attacks from getting a failing grade on your assignment," he mentions.

Francisco doesn't react, but Elena is surprised that her tío knows about that, however not hearing her dad react was stranger. Everyone looks over at Francisco, who is picking at his food with a fork as if he didn't hear a thing.

Kiké shakes his shoulder, "Hey menso, did you hear what was just said?"

The younger brother looks up and notices everyone's eyes on him, "Um…yeah…" he says, despite not paying attention since he took a seat at the table.

The three are surprised that he isn't more upset, they all know how much he wants Elena to do her best in school.

Francisco gets up from his seat, he points to the bedroom, "I think I'm going to…something…" he mutters as he walks away from the table.

Lynn follows after him when she notices that he is stumbling back to bed.

When Elena is sure that they're both out of earshot, she turns to her tío and whispers, "How did you know about that assignment?"

"You don't tend to wake up with heart palpitations and not think that something is wrong. Unfortunately for me, you wouldn't stop thinking about it. News flash kid – one bad grade isn't going to keep you from going to college or ending up in the gutter."

Elena is confused by what he's talking about; she knows that she was stressed after receiving her grade, but she kept quiet about it to everyone around her.

"What?"

"Not important," he tells her.

She doesn't believe him, "Yes, it's important. You can't just tell me that and expect me to accept that answer. How did you know?"

"How about I give you a pair of earrings and you leave me alone?"

"I don't want your ruby earrings," she stresses to him. "I just want to know how you knew about that assignment."

Kiké takes a bite of his food, "Funny, I never said they were ruby."

Elena stares at him; she can feel her heart racing. She can't explain how she knew that they were ruby; she just remembers two red shining lights in her dreams, her tío's voice, and a stranger's voice in a foreign language.

"Calm down already," Kiké complains, "If you keep panicking like that over everything, I won't know when I'm having a heart attack." He pulls out the box with the earrings and slides it to her, "We'll keep quiet, and no one has to know our little secret," he winks, "we'll just have to team up against the little imp in case she tells your dad what I said."

"You can," she points to herself.

He nods his head, "By the way, just ask that kid in your math class out already. I'm sick of you getting nervous out of nowhere."

* * *

_Francisco drags his feet; he is not looking forward to having guests in his house, but Lynn insisted that it would be better to prepare for their project at his house than the library or her house. It isn't that he doesn't want her to visit, but he knows that they aren't going to have a lot of time to work on the project before his family comes home and possibly interrupts them._

_He looks over at Lynn, who is looking around at the unfamiliar neighborhood, "We won't have a lot of time to work on our project today, but we can probably get some stuff done before six."_

"_Six?" she pulls out her phone; that doesn't give them a lot of time, but a little over two hours is better than holding off all week._

"_It'll start to get dark and I doubt you want miss dinner," he teases._

_Her cheeks turn red from embarrassment, but he isn't wrong, "I'll be fine. Besides, I'm not always hungry."_

"_That's not what Paula says," Francisco laughs._

_He opens the front door; the house is quiet and he sighs in relief as the two can work in privacy._

"_You can take a seat anywhere; I'm going to get my laptop so we can get started," he tells her._

_Lynn walks around the living room, dining room and kitchen; she's never visited his house before, and she begins to take in the layout of the house. This happens anytime that she's in a new place; she can't stop herself from turning her head at all of the new things that she is seeing. _

_He looks over at her, and wonders what she is doing, "Lynn," he calls out to her as he notices her staring through the pages of the calendar._

"_Why do the dates have names on them? I've never seen a calendar like that."_

_Francisco shrugs his shoulders, "I don't know, that's the way the bakery gives them to us."_

"_Your bakery gives you a free calendar?"_

"_Doesn't yours?"_

"_No! Man, I gotta start going to your bakery. So what's with the names?"_

"_I don't know. All the calendars that we've ever had have them," Francisco tells her. He sets up his laptop on the dining room table, "Do you know what you want to the project on?"_

_Lynn lets go of the calendar pages and takes a seat next to him, "Nope."_

"_Can you pull out the sheet of paper with what we need to put on our project?" he asks._

_She grabs her backpack and Francisco notices the large amount of papers that she's carrying around. He doesn't say a thing, but watches as she randomly pulls out papers to see if it's the one he asked for._

_After creating a mess of the dining room table, she pulls out the sheet and hands it to him, "Found it!"_

"_Thanks," he says. "Alright, I'm going to make an outline and we should be able to get most of it done before its due."_

_Lynn happily exclaims, "Alright!"_

_This is one of the reasons that she wanted him to be her partner; he's organized, he can keep her on track, and it helps that he's pretty cute._

_Lynn looks over his shoulder and notices that he is looking at a translator webpage, "Why are you using that? Didn't you say that Spanish was your first language?"_

"_Yeah, but this it make sure that the accents are in the right place and that I'm not making any grammatical errors," he tells her._

"_Are you serious?"_

_He shrugs his shoulders. Francisco admits that amongst his family, his Spanish is the worst, but it still gets him an easy A in his class._

* * *

As Elena heads down to the kitchen for a snack, she is met by her mom and Andrew. For the last couple of hours, she has been in her room trying to catch up on her homework, but has been struggling to make any headway.

Andrew greets her, "Hey stranger, we haven't seen you in the last couple of hours."

"You've been up in your room for a couple of hours, are you okay?" asks Caroline.

Elena nods her head, "Yeah, I'm just trying to catch up on some studying that I couldn't get done at dad's."

"What happened at your dad's?" Caroline asks with concern.

"It was fine. A little annoying considering that Lynn and tío Kiké wouldn't stop arguing with one another."

"Again? What were they arguing about this time?" Andrew asks.

"Same as last week, but it seems like they keep upping themselves every time I see them."

Caroline is surprised to hear that Francisco's brother is still at home; normally the older brother sticks around for a few days, a week at best, but his constant presence is worrying her. Francisco tends to take dips in his 'personality' whenever he spends an extended period of time with his brother, and she doesn't want Elena to catch on to it.

When Elena pulls her hair back, Andrew notices the new earrings that his step-daughter is sporting, "Did you get new earrings?"

She nods, "Yeah, tío Kiké gave them to me."

"Where did he get them?" Caroline asks, afraid that her daughter may be running around with stolen jewelry.

"Myanmar," she quickly responds.

Caroline holds her hand out, "Can I see them?"

Elena knows what this is about; whenever her tío brings her nice gifts such as these, her parents are quick to take them from her. To date they haven't returned a single one, and they never say why, although Elena can always assume it has to do with his 'job.

"Did you tío mention how much longer he was going to stick around?" Caroline asks.

Elena shakes her head, "No, he didn't say a thing about it."

"What exactly does he do?" Andrew asks.

"I don't know. I just know that he travels a lot and tends to show up randomly at dad's house."

Andrew is curious about what that means; he looks over at Caroline and notices that she's staring intensely at the countertop. He isn't expecting her to tell him much, but when he notices the serious look in her eye, he can't help but wonder what is going on through her mind.

Elena grabs an apple, "I'm going back upstairs to study," she tells them. However, before she goes, "Mom, do you have anything for headaches?"

"I should have something in my medicine cabinet."

The teen nods her head and walks back upstairs; for weeks, she has had a headache, which seems to get worse in the late afternoon, but this weekend was a nightmare. Her head was pounding and she couldn't get anything done, not that she has been able to do so since they started.

When Elena is upstairs, Andrew turns to Caroline, who is pouring some tea in a mug, "What's going on? You seem really frazzled."

Caroline bites on her lip, "It's Francisco. I…just think that…maybe I'll keep Elena home for a few weekends."

Andrew knows that he has to tread lightly. For years, he has wanted to get more information about Francisco and what went on between the former couple, but Caroline would never say much, and Violet always struck him as an exaggerator.

"Are you sure about that?"

"You heard her. She can't study or do anything as long as his brother is around and I…" she doesn't finish her sentence, but she knows what she wants to say. Caroline knows that if Kiké something shady is going on with either him or Francisco and she doesn't want her daughter exposed to any of it.

Caroline hates keeping Elena away, but it isn't the first time that she's done so, and if things keep going the same way, then it may not be the last time.

She tries to think of anything that may have happened to Francisco in the last couple of weeks, "Elena said that Francisco broke his thumb, right?"

"Yeah, why?"

"Just curious. Look, I'll talk with him and she can stay here instead."

"Okay…if it's okay with him."

"I'm doing what's best for her," she stresses.

* * *

_Francisco looks at the clock; it's almost six and Lynn is due to go home; no one has come home and he hasn't had to worry about his family seeing her. He's not embarrassed, but he can imagine the sort of things that they'll say when they meet Lynn; especially since she's here unexpectedly._

_He hears her stomach rumble and asks the bored girl, "Do you want to call it a day?" _

_She perks up, "Yes! I am so sick of researching and writing sources. Who the hell invented the biblictrophy?!"_

"_Bibliography," he corrects, "and I don't know." Francisco can't blame her for being annoyed, he insisted on gathering all the information they needed as quickly as possible, but at least they won't have much to do except write the report and set up the presentation. "Do you want to write the report or do the slide presentation?"_

_Without hesitation, she tells him, "Slides."_

"_Just make them more than a few words per point, and maybe study the topic cards."_

"_What makes you think that I won't?!"_

_While this is the first presentation that the two of them are working on together, he has seen and heard that Lynn does the bare minimum to get by, and he doesn't want to do the bare minimum to get a grade._

"_Just in case."_

_The front door opens, and the two teens turn to see a man carrying a large amount of grocery bags. He doesn't acknowledge the two and sets his down the bags so that he can close the door._

_Lynn whispers to Francisco, "Who's that?"_

"_My older brother," he says, annoyed that his brother arrived before Lynn left._

_Kiké walks past the two, stealing Francisco's cap in the process. The younger brother rolls his eyes, but he doesn't let his brother bother him. When he returns, Kiké places Francisco's hat back on his head, but purposely tilts it to mess with his little brother._

_The man takes out bags of gummy bears and unloads them onto the table. From the corner of Lynn's eye, she can spot the colorful treat, which lures her towards the elder brother. Francisco follows after her as Lynn looks inside the bags and sees that they are all filled with gummy bears, "Dang and I thought that I had a sweet tooth," she says as she opens the pack to eat the candy._

_Kiké takes the bag from her, "I sell them."_

"_Didn't you learn your lesson the last time?" Francisco asks._

"_It's not like I got in trouble, I was just told to leave," he answers. "Besides, I didn't do anything illegal."_

"_Except walk around a music festival telling people that you were selling ecstasy laced gummy bears."_

"_Hey! I never said that they were laced with anything, I just told people that I was selling twenty dollar gummy bears, what people assume is their business."_

_Lynn, who opened another bag to eat, asks, "Weren't they going to know that it wasn't laced?"_

_Kiké takes the bag back, "It takes a little time to kick in, now stop eating my merchandise!"_

_The clock on the wall chimes, "Look at that it's six o'clock," he tells Lynn._

"_Dang that took longer than I thought," she complains. _

_Lynn quickly stuffs her papers back into her backpack and heads to the door. Francisco grabs a bag of gummy bears to give to Lynn for the walk home._

"_Yeah, yeah, córrele. Ve a besar a tu novio, con suerte no comiste," he laughs._

_Francisco flips him off before meeting with Lynn by the front door. She isn't sure what made him upset, but she quietly mutters what Kiké said as the two walk out the door._

_He hands Lynn the bag of candy and apologizes, "Sorry about him, I wish I could say that he's just in a bad mood, but he's always an ass." _

_Lynn shrugs it off, "No big deal, besides it's not like I'm not used to moody siblings."_

"_Do you want to do the project somewhere else next time?"_

"_Yeah, I guess we can do it at my house next time."_

_That wasn't what Francisco had in mind, "See what you can get done before get together again. I'll email you some talking points and if can find anything that could help me with the report send them my way."_

_She punches his arm, "Got it!" _

_As she walks towards her house, Lynn continues to mutter, "Ve a besar…tu no…vio. Wait, what else did he say?_ No…comisti."

* * *

"Sigh…" Lucy says she starts the washing machine and leans on it to rest her feet. Even after a year, she is still tired and having a harder time with motherhood as her twins begin walking and making messes everywhere they go. Toys, clothes, and books litter the once-clean home, and while she would love to just say that it was her children's work, her sister also played a role in the mess.

"Almost there, c'mon Arthur, just a few more steps," Lynn tells her nephew, who is slowly tottering towards her. The boy keeps going until he reaches Lynn and falls into her arms. "You did it! C'mon, time for a flying break," she says before lays him on her arm while running around the room letting the boy pretend to fly.

Lucy watches them go, and overhears Lynn pick up her daughter, "Gotcha, Catherine."

The little girl giggles. By some miraculous act, Lynn is able to keep the children balanced on her arms as she dodges toys on the ground and furniture all around her.

Lynn maneuvers the twins towards the laundry room and put both children in Lucy's face, "Say hi to your mommy."

Both give their mother a gummy smile which Lucy returns, before taking her daughter in her arms. It surprises her that Lynn took an interest in her children, considering that she hardly ever extends the same courtesy for her other nieces and nephews, but Lucy isn't going to complain about help that her sister is offering.

Lucy faces her daughter, who began to yawn, "Time for you to take a nap."

"Aww already," Lynn whines. "But I just got here."

Lucy shrugs her shoulders and leads the way to the nursery. Lynn follows her sister upstairs, and watches her sister put the twins down for their nap.

"I still can't get over how you thought that a buncha shades of gray was a good color for a nursery."

The walls – gray. The crib – gray. The bookshelves, the rocking chair, curtains – everything gray, and Lucy thought it was okay; not that she cared about anyone's opinion on the nursery. The only colorful things were the gifts that the siblings brought for the babies before anyone knew Lucy's planned color scheme.

"Man, I still laugh when I think of dad and Linc's faces when they saw your 'haunted house nursery'," she mimics.

Lucy rolls her eyes and gives them their blankets, draws the curtains, and turns off the light which makes the dark room darker than before.

"I appreciate your help," Lucy tells her sister as they walk back down to the living room.

"Yeah, well it looked hard when mom and dad dealt with Lana and Lola, so I figured you would want help, especially when Rocky has those long work days."

Lucy nods. She is proud that he is pursuing what he loves, but being a forensic pathologist in the city tends to cut into his free time and thus left Lucy alone with the twins.

"So," Lucy hands her sister a broom, "can you help me clean up?"

Lynn groans. When she decided to visit she didn't make plan on helping clean despite knowing that she was part of the reason that the house got messier than necessary. The floor was trashed and rather than complain, Lucy suggests that they quickly finish before Catherine and Arthur wake up.

Lynn grabs a stuffed bear and looks at it before tossing it in a corner. From childhood to now, she wasn't fond of cleaning up, in her mind she is able to thrive on her own organized chaos; ask her to find anything and somehow she found it, but ask her to clean and suddenly, she is lost.

"I thought that people were supposed to sleep when the babies sleep, why are you torturing yourself?"

"I'm only asking that you clean up the mess you made, I'm not asking you to wax the floors and repaint the house."

Lynn looks around, "On a house this big," she scoffs, "Never, although, if there's ever a blizzard, I know exactly where Francisco and I are running to."

Lucy wonders where that scenario came from, "You wouldn't stay in your own house?"

"Just the two of us? Kinda dull, and at least here we can help you with the babies."

* * *

"_Are you sure that you want to do the project here at your house?" Francisco asks as he and Lynn approach her front door. "We can always just go to the library."_

"_Yeah, I don't mind," she says._

_Truthfully, Lynn didn't want to risk running into Francisco's older brother again in case she does something that she'll regret; after she can home last time, Lynn looked online to translate what his brother said, she was mad at his comment, and she was sure that she would give him more than a piece of het mind._

_She opens the front door and he is met with a cacophony of noises from all around; Francisco can't imagine why Lynn thinks that this would be better than going to the quiet library, but it is better than going to his house again, especially after what his mom told him about Lynn's real intentions during her last visit. _

"_Mom! Dad! I'm gonna be doing a project with Francisco in my room!"_

_Lynn Sr., upon hearing 'Francisco' and 'room', runs over to the two teens, "Lynn, can you watch Lily, I'm going to be, uh, busy…with dinner, yup dinner."_

"_But we have a project to do, can't someone else watch her?"_

_He shakes his head, "Sorry, Lori is at golf practice, Luan is helping me with dinner and the others are busy. Please," he begs her._

_She sighs, "Fine, I'll go get her." Lynn turns to Francisco, "C'mon let's go."_

_The elder Loud sighs in relief as the two teens head upstairs._

_Lynn points to her door, "You can go in, I'm gonna go get my little sister and then we can get started."_

_She heads to Lily's crib, "Hey Shortstop, listen, I've got a friend over, but I've got to watch you and we got a project and I kinda like him, but you didn't hear that from me. So can you please be good and cuter than you've ever been and maybe not run around without your diaper or need a changing or anything? Please, for your favorite sister?"_

_Lily thinks about it. She searches under her pillow and hands Lynn a clipping of a hobbyhorse from a toy catalog._

_Lynn takes the clipping, "You want this? Alright, deal." _

_She spits on her hand to shake, but Lily shakes her head. Lynn wipes her hand on her shirt and takes her baby sister to her room._

"_We're here," Lynn says. "Lily, this is my friend, Francisco. Francisco, this is my baby sister Lily."_

_Francisco awkwardly waves to the infant, who coos at him. Lynn sets down the baby, who crawls around the room, however, she quickly grows bored, since her older sister neglected to bring her a toy to play with._

_Lily walks over to the two teens and Lynn looks over at the baby, who is patiently waiting for someone to play with her. Both sisters stare at one another until Francisco notices that Lynn isn't typing. _

_He looks up the two and wonders how long Lynn will actually stare at her sister; rather than find out, he calls to her, "Lynn, I think your sister wants something."_

_She shakes her head, "Right! I should probably get her a toy or her blankie. I'll be right back," she says._

_Francisco looks down at the infant, "Do you two always do that?"_

_Lily shakes her head and crawls to the boy. Francisco looks down, unsure of what to do; Lynn still hasn't returned and he's sure that those crashing noises and explosions are because of her._

"_Do you want me to pick you up?"_

_Lily nods her head and Francisco complies. He isn't sure of what he can do to entertain the girl; he's never dealt with babies, but so far, Lily seems easy. Francisco offers her his finger, but Lily refuses; she's learned her lesson after Lynn has pulled that trick with her._

_He notices that she doesn't take it, "Not your thing? How about a…I don't know…what do you like?"_

_Lucy gets up from her coffin, "She typically likes stuffed giraffe and blankie."_

_The two are taken by surprise; unaware that Lucy was in the room with them to begin with._

"_Where did you come from?"_

"_I've been here this whole time, I'm Lucy, by the way," she tells him, as she looks over at the boy that she's sure Lynn mentioned giving her secret admirer letter to._

"_Francisco," he introduces himself to her._

_Lynn walks in and notices Lucy staring at Francisco, "Holy– where did you come from?"_

"_I've been contemplating death in my coffin," she says before laying back down in her coffin._

_The room grows quiet._

"_Anyway," Lynn starts, "here's your blankie, Lily," she tells the infant, who happily takes it._

_Lily gets off Francisco's lap and crawls around the bed as she gets a look at two teenagers. Her eyes fixate on the boy, she's never met him up close, but she knows that she's seen him at Lynn's baseball games._

"_I should be able to get this done soon, then we can focus on what we're going to say in front of the class," Francisco says. He looks at his project guideline, "The questions are here on the sheet, so we can look up how we're going to say everything."_

"_Or you could ask your parents," Lynn suggests._

"_Or we cut out the middle man and do it ourselves."_

"_With the power of a translator," she teases._

_Francisco looks up at her, "Do you want an A or B? Because my crappy Spanish at best is going to get us a B."_

"_Can you explain that to me? How is it that you speak Spanish every day, but somehow you're 'terrible' at it?"_

"_My brothers mostly spoke English and my parents didn't pay much attention to how I was learning Spanish."_

_Lily calls out to Lynn, with her hands out in the air, hoping that her older sister will pick her up. Lynn complies and Lily squeals in delight as she decides to pull out her best cute routine for their guest. She coos, she smiles, she tries her best to say new words, and best of all, she tries to stay on her best behavior, no matter how tempted she is by the keyboard in front of her; she has to do her best to earn that hobbyhorse that Lynn promised her._

"_I didn't know that you were so good with babies," Francisco says._

"_When you have six younger siblings, you're bound to learn a thing or two," she boasts, despite not having much experience the responsible to her own younger siblings._

_Lily yawns and rests her head on Lynn's lap. She turns to Francisco, "I should probably put her in her crib."_

_He looks at the time and begins to gather his things, "Alright, I should be heading out too. It's getting late."_

"_I'll walk you to the door," Lynn says._

_With Lily in her crib, Lynn whispers, "I'll buy you your toy as soon as I can."_

_After, Lynn closes the door thi the infant's room, he two teens walk out the front door, and __Francisco turns to her, "You know, I sort of expected your house to be a little crazier, what with thirteen people under one roof."_

"_You got lucky that you didn't see everyone, but at least we got a lot of work done."_

_He nods his head and begins to head out, "Look forward to working with you again."_

* * *

Lynn tosses the papers on the coffee table and crashes on the couch. Another day of being forced to be stuck in that stupid office with that stupid paperwork and that stupidly loud clock; she is ready to snap!

"Stupid Lori…why did she have to get dad all organized…and why the hell did I agree to take the restaurant…stupid everyone!" she yells into a pillow.

Francisco notices Lynn punching the couch; he takes a seat on her favorite chair and asks, "What's going on?"

"I am so sick of doing paperwork. I just wanna go in the kitchen at the restaurant. It's easy! I get an order, the guys and I fulfill it and we do it over and over and over and over again, but it's random. Easy, right? Instead, dad wants me to do paperwork, and I know he hated doing it too, so why do I have to do it?"

Francisco takes a sheet and reads through it, "Because that's part of running a restaurant. No food, no customers. No clean tablecloths, no customers. No soap, no clean plates or silverware, no customers. No paychecks, no employees, no customers. You see where I'm going with this? Someone has to run the back and whether you like it or not that has to be you…and how exactly did your dad run the restaurant before if he hated doing paperwork?"

"Like me…" she gets up from the couch. "Except he had Lori to help. But Lori doesn't want to help me because she's too busy with her Boo-Boo Bear's mercado and being in another state and not helping for years."

"Well, that is a good excuse."

"Hey!" she lightly slaps his arm, "Who's side are you on?"

"No one's. But you have to figure this out eventually, if not then what was the point of taking over this restaurant?"

Lynn crosses her arms. She hates when he made her think about things like this. She takes an order sheet and begins to look over it; soon her eyes began to drift and she stares at a spot on coffee table.

"Well? Anything wrong?"

"With what?"

"The sheet in front of you," he exclaims. He sighs and takes the sheet. It is a simple order form to order meats from a butcher, but Lynn seems to have randomly inserted numbers and cuts of meat on the sheet. "Lynn, are you sure you looked at this form correctly?"

Lynn glances at the sheet, "I think, I was just…filling out stuff…so dad wouldn't, uh…know I wasn't doing it…"

Francisco sighs. It feels like a parent talking to a stubborn child that doesn't want to do their homework. "If you don't want to do it, then why don't you hire someone instead?"

"Because dad said that if I did he would have to take the money from my paycheck and that I have to learn responsibility," Lynn complains. Then an idea pop into her, "Wait a minute, you aren't working for Lisa, are you?"

"Not as much."

"Why don't you do it?! You'd get an easier job that doesn't have you on your feet as much, you get something to do and the paycheck wouldn't need to be split since we live in the same house."

"I'm going to want to get paid, Lynn. No one works for free," he reminds her.

"Don't worry about that, I can probably convince my dad to hire you part-time and if you do a good job, I'll hire you full-time and give you a raise."

He knows that she can't promise that, but he is tempted by having a steady but small source of income while he does his part-time jobs around the neighborhood.

"Fine, we'll see how it goes, but only for a little bit."

"Deal! First order of business – shave your damn beard; it's getting too itchy," she complains. "I mean seriously, how did you forget so many weeks in a row."

He sighs, "I'm waiting for the weather to get warmer."

Lynn pulls him into a hug, pressing her head near his heart, "Liar…your heart feels a little slow."

Francisco can't think of anything to say, so he returns the hug.

* * *

**And there you have it, the stupid reason that Kiké and Lynn fight with one another. It was never meant to be smart, especially when they don't remember that this was why they started fighting, but insults tend to do the trick.**

**Unfortunately for our duo, Kiké is the least of their problems, which are about to involve the Loud sisters, Caroline and Elena too. **

**Thanks for reading and see you next time. **


	39. Restaurant and Mr Responsible

Francisco sighs. He can't believe that Lynn is actually going through with her crazy plan; he understands that she hates doing paperwork, but to actually want to hire him, he refuses to believe it.

He watches her spin around on her chair as she stares up at the ceiling looking at the tiles, "Dad's going to love this. I get to go back to cooking, you get a better job, and he's happy that he won't have to keep checking on me – everybody wins!"

"Lynn, what makes you think that I even want to do this?"

"Cause you're here," she quickly responds.

It is true. If he didn't want this then he would have left already, "Do you honestly think that I'll be good at this?"

Lynn stops spinning and stares right into his eyes, "Better than me. Trust me, you're going to do a great job and I'm not just saying this so that I won't have to do it anymore," she says with a cheeky smile.

Lynn Sr. walks into the office. He isn't looking forward to this morning meeting with his daughter, but he was done playing the good guy; month after month she has been skirting her responsibilities and he isn't going to let her do that anymore. He walks into his office and sees Lynn and Francisco with a stack of papers in front of them, "Good morning. Francisco, what are you doing here?"

Francisco gestures to Lynn, who happily tells her father, "Meet the new manager!"

He stands up and takes a deep breath before extending his hand to the elder Loud.

"But Lynn Jr., why do you need to hire a manager? No offense, Francisco," he assures the younger man.

"None taken."

"Dad, I don't like doing paperwork. It's boring and tedious and mind-numbing and it isn't exciting. I can't do it anymore," she confesses.

Francisco points out to Lynn, "You just said the same thing four different ways."

She rolls her eyes, "And he needs the job," she continues, "He can't do back-breaking labor with his bad back, and it works out even better since he's much more detail-oriented, attentive, thorough, and meticulous than I am."

The elder Loud has some hesitations. He is now tasked with teaching everything all over again but he will admit that it may be easier to teach Francisco than continue with Lynn, "Well…I guess we can give it a try. LJ, I guess you can go back to the kitchen."

Lynn happily leaves the two men alone and both of them quietly look at each other; neither one sure with how to start.

"Look, Mr. Loud, I know that you probably wanted Lynn to do this more than me, and I know that at the end of the day you have the final say since you own a majority of the restaurant, but–"

"It's fine. Honestly, it was getting a bit tiresome trying to get her to do the paperwork, and you know what? I thought that getting her to handle herself in the kitchen was going to be the hard part."

"I don't think you remember what Lynn was like in school, do you Mr. Loud?"

"Oh, what's with this whole 'Mr. Loud' thing? I told you that it was okay to call me Lynn."

Francisco shakes his head, "I don't think so, Mr. Loud."

The older man frowns, no matter how often he insists to the younger man, he refuses to ever call him by his name.

Lynn Sr. walks to a file cabinet and pulls out some of the old order forms that Lynn failed to fill out correctly and a few blank ones to Francisco to try his hand at. He opens up the daily inventory, and calls him to take a seat in his chair so that he can begin teaching the younger man.

* * *

_Francisco opens the fridge and sighs, "I swear if I don't buy anything," he angrily mutters to himself. _

_He doesn't mind being the one to go to the grocery store; it's summer and he has plenty of free time between practice, but he struggles to stretch the money that his dad gives him. Every week, his dad gives him a meager amount of money and expects Francisco to make it work while still being nutritious._

_His mom has gone to see her parents, leaving Francisco alone with his dad, but over the last couple of days, the sixteen-year-old has begun to realize how little his dad does in terms of helping his mom around._

"_I hope he left a little more this time…" Francisco looks at the thirty dollars that his dad left him to buy food for the week. "Again," he sighs, "Fine, hopefully something's on sale."_

_The sixteen-year-old opens the fridge and the cabinets to see what they might need; he knows what he likes to eat, but figuring his dad out is much harder. Francisco can recall plenty of times when his mom would complain that his dad got sick of certain foods randomly, followed by complaining when his mom no longer made them._

_Francisco grabs a pencil and tries to think of how he's going to make the thirty dollars work, especially with his and his dad's voracious appetites. He makes a list, while planning what his dad is likely to eat between the week, but unless they both eat pure vegetables and the same meal every day, Francisco doesn't see it working._

"_Well, let's see what I can do with this," he tells himself before heading to buy food for the week._

_At the grocery store, Francisco spots a familiar sight and walks towards his older brother, "Chuy?"_

_The older brother turns around and spots his younger brother, "Hey Pancho," he looks down at his brother's meager basket of food, "I'm guessing dad didn't give you for the week?"_

"_He gives me thirty dollars and tells me to stretch it for a week's worth of groceries," Francisco complains. "And then he complains when I bring home cheap ramen!"_

_Chuy agrees, "Yeah, I don't think that dad knows how much food really costs. He just goes to one place, grabs what he wants and barely looks at the prices, you know, unless it's beer."_

_Francisco nods in agreement, "Is there any way that you can help me out? I do not feel like eating the same thing all week."_

_The older brother knows where this is going, normally he wouldn't mind helping his brother out of a jam, but he can't spend the summer helping Francisco and cover his own expenses._

"_Why don't you get a job? You're sixteen and its summer; you have plenty of time to work a part-time job. Besides, didn't you say that Lynn's dad runs a restaurant? Maybe he can hire you to something easy until mom gets home."_

"_I guess."_

"_Anything's better than dad being annoyed that you didn't buy oranges or 'healthier food'."_

* * *

Lynn Sr. reviews the paperwork in front of him; it's done a lot better than when he had Lynn do it and Francisco did it in a fraction of the time. While he wasn't onboard with his daughter's idea of hiring anyone else to handle the managerial duties, he is willing to admit that it will be easier than having Lynn do it.

He gets up, "You did a great job," he tells Francisco.

"Umm…thanks?" the younger man says, confused that he was congratulating him for doing such simple work. Looking back on those papers, Francisco wonders why Lynn made it seem harder than it really is.

"No, no, I mean it. You were quick, but effective. I honestly think that we can make this work after today," an idea pops into the older man's head, "You know what we should do? We can take a quick tour of the restaurant. Now, I know you might be thinking that things haven't really changed in the last two decade, but I assure you that they have."

Francisco tries to think of what Lynn Sr. is referring to; the décor is about the same as he recalls from the last time he walked into the restaurant, but he can't imagine that much has changed especially since Lynn has mentioned some things to him in passing.

The two men take a walk around the restaurant and while it isn't much different from a few weeks ago, it is different from nearly twenty years ago; over the years, Lisa has made the restaurant more electronic to help the staff and reduce errors, call buttons on each table to grab the attention of the staff when needed, and from what Mr. Loud was saying, a high tech security system to prevent robberies.

The older man turns to him as he continues to talk, "Oh, and by the way, Francisco, you may want to invest in slip-resistant shoes. You never know when you're going to have to go into the kitchen or when you'll walk onto a recently mopped floor," Francisco takes a mental note as the two walk through the dining area, where he loses his footing on the slippery floor. "Francisco, are you okay?"

Francisco, who is on the ground and biting down on his lip, shakes his head, "Can I get a glass of water, please?"

A waitress brings him a glass of water and the busboy helps him to a chair. Francisco pulls out his medicine, "I'll get to a shoe store immediately," he groans as he moves in his seat.

Lynn Sr. takes a seat in front of him, "Do you mind if I ask you something?"

Francisco swallows his medicine and nods his head, "Um…sure."

He leans in and whispers, "Do you honestly want this job?"

Francisco stops and looks at the man, "Honestly… not really. I mean, it is very nice of both you and Lynn to offer me this position, but I don't have any real restaurant experience and I know that that isn't an issue, but I think that the restaurant would be better off with someone who wouldn't have such a steep learning curve."

The older man nods. He was afraid Francisco was going to say that, but he knows that he can't force him into the position, despite being desperate need of someone to handle the restaurant's managerial duties.

"So you're not interested in at least giving a try? We can do a trial run like we did with LJ, what do you say?"

Francisco looks at the man's eyes; he clearly wants him to try, but he shouldn't be wasting anyone's time for something that he isn't interested or possibly capable of doing.

"Fine," sighs Francisco.

* * *

_After getting out of the shower, Francisco grabs his best button-down shirt, his newly-shined shoes, and pressed pants; Lynn told him that her dad wanted him at the restaurant this afternoon and he intends to make a good impression during his job interview. She didn't mention what sort of job he would be doing at the restaurant, but regardless, he's going to have to make it work for the rest of the summer._

_Upon arriving to the restaurant, he spots Lynn, who looks over at her dressed-up friend, "Aren't you a little over-dressed to be a busboy?"_

"_It's a job interview; I want to put my best foot forward."_

"_But you already got the job, I told my dad that you were looking for work and he said to show up," she reminds him._

_He stands there a little speechless, not angry that he got the job, but annoyed that he's dressed up for job that risks him getting himself messy, "Maybe he'll offer me a better job."_

_She laughs, "Sure, he'll offer the best job in the restaurant to a guy with no restaurant experience."_

_He blushes in embarrassment, "It doesn't have to be the best job, but something higher than busboy."_

_Lynn grabs Francisco's head and turns him towards all the employees and patrons; the room is packed with people and it doesn't appear to be missing much of a beat in terms of having plenty of employees._

"_Be lucky that you got busboy. Dad normally hires me and my siblings or some college kids during the summer." Lynn spots her dad, "He's right over there, just let him know that you're here and then you can get started."_

_Francisco walks over to the man, who is emerging from the kitchen, and he nervously greets his new boss, "Good morning, Mr. Loud."_

_He smiles, "Good morning, Francisco. My, you're very dressed up today. I'm guessing LJ didn't tell you that today is your first day. Well, no matter, I can get you an apron. Follow me," he tells the boy, as they walk towards his office. "We're going to fill out some paperwork to make your employment official and probably get you a slip-on cover for your shoes so that you don't slip and fall. Watch your step," he warns, pointing at the wet floor._

_Francisco side steps around the puddle, "I'm thankful that you were able to find a position for me on such short notice, Mr. Loud."_

"_You're welcome, now I should be able to schedule you a few times a week, I know that you have baseball practice, but I can be accommodating, but please give me a heads up," he pleads, having learned his lesson after the nightmare that is scheduling Lynn._

"_Of course."_

"_Also, because you're part-time, I can't offer a shift meal, but you do get to split the tips with the wait staff at the end of the week, and if you do a good job I can even offer a promotion to waiter if that sounds good to you."_

_Francisco excitedly answers, "Yes, it does."_

* * *

Lynn picks up the order slip, "One order of meatloaf with mashed potatoes, hold the gravy, and a request to speak with the owner's daughter/fifth eldest sister!" she yells to the kitchen crew.

Greg glances over at Lynn and snickers a bit before he gets to work, "I don't think I can help you with that last part though, Ms. Insanity."

"It's Lynn-sanity!" she argues back. "Let's just get this order filled so I can send it out."

Lynn knows that Lisa placed this order, but she doesn't know why her younger sister wants to talk with her. Normally, Lisa arrives, eats and then goes back to work, assuming that she remembered to eat that day, so Lynn imagines that Lisa wants to talk, but she can't figure out why.

Greg hands her the plate with the meatloaf so that Lynn can complete the order and hand it off to their guest. Lynn walks the order into the dining area and looks for Lisa, who has her nose buried in a book. She sets the plate down in front of Lisa and takes a seat in front of her, "You wanted to see me?"

"Good afternoon, Lynn," Lisa says as she puts her book down and picks up her utensils to take a bite from her meatloaf. "Pardon, I do not wish to miss my usual eating time."

"Okay, so why did you want to talk to me?"

"I wanted to ask about Francisco and his whereabouts. I have been trying to get in contact with him, but he keeps ignoring my calls."

Lynn raises an eyebrow, "Why are you trying to get in contact with him?"

"He was my former assistant and part of an experiment and I wanted to do a follow-up after being off of my medication for the last couple of weeks."

Lynn isn't sure about what she's talking about. He told her that he was seeing Lisa, but after the hospital incident, she didn't ask him too many questions, especially since he hasn't seemed to different than before, "Well he's been here, and at home, and with Elena, sometimes at Romano's, or the gym, and the hardware store, sometimes under my car trying to fix something–"

"I don't need such a detailed list. Is he here right now?"

"I can go get him."

Lynn heads over to the back office. She quickly glances back and sees Lisa staring in her direction; creeping Lynn out.

She knocks on the door and walks inside to see Francisco making the schedule on the computer, "Lisa's here."

Francisco immediately stops what he is doing and looks over at her, "What? Why–Why does she want to t-talk with me?"

She shrugs her shoulders, "I don't know, I think she was just checking up on your that drug trial that you're doing for her."

He scratches his face, "T-Tell her that I'll be out in a bit."

Lynn notices his nervous demeanor, "Are you okay? You seem a bit jittery. Wait, is Lisa's drug making you having side effects? Is she making you do weird tests to see if you're okay? I know that she says things like that, but I wanna make sure that you're fine or I'll tell her off if you're suffering because of her," she offers.

Francisco shakes his head, he feels a headache coming on, and he grabs his medicine from the drawer.

"Why are you taking that? You took it a few hours ago."

"I took it when we got to work, and enough time has passed since I last took it."

Lynn doesn't question him about the time, he has his watch to help him remember when he last took his medicine, "Wait, didn't you say that your medicine was once a day?"

"Lisa gave me a different kind after I fell off the roof and broke my thumb," he tells her.

"Alright, well I have to get back before the kitchen gets backed up," Lynn tells him, "Let me know if she gives you a hard time, I've always wanted to tell a customer to scram."

He walks past her, "Do that when…when you have a decent something…"

Francisco's heart begins to race as he approaches the table that Lisa is sitting at. He knows what she wants to talk about and now there was no way of escaping without drawing attention himself.

Lisa looks over at the man, who appears to be glancing at everyone around. She makes a mental note of what she sees; he appears to be neglecting his personal appearance, based off of his messy hair, he appears tired and paranoid as though worried about what other people can hear, especially since he's assuming what the conversation is about.

"Can we go somewhere else?" he asks, hoping to keep the patrons around them from overhearing their conversation.

"As you wish," she answers, receiving confirmation on her previous suspicion.

The two walk to the back of the restaurant and Lisa stares at the man, who is currently scratching his arms while staring out in space.

Lisa stares at him and asked, "Are you itchy?"

'_What?'_ he thinks to himself; unaware that he was beginning to scratch his arms, "No, why do you ask?"

"No reason," she says with a subtle smile. "May I ask why you haven't returned to the experiment?"

"I've been busy…I don't feel…I don't feel…" he repeats, trying to think of the word to finish his sentence.

"Pain?" Lisa finishes, "It's only a small vial of blood, I can run the blood work, so we can continue the treatment."

Francisco shakes his head, "There's no point…I'm…" he doesn't continue. His head feels as though it's splitting in two as it tries to make sense of what is happening in front of him.

Knowing that Francisco isn't going to admit anything, or take part in the experiment at the moment, she bids him a farewell, "I see. Since you claim that you cannot return, I should go."

"Great!" he snaps, as he slowly walks back into the restaurant. "Maybe next time don't waste my time!"

Lisa watches him go; he stumbles on his feet as he steps towards the entrance, one hand on the side of the restaurant to maintain stability, and the other on his head tell her enough to know what has been going on with him.

She hates to see him like this, and promptly sends a text to her sister before heading inside to finish her meal.

* * *

_Francisco grabs the coffee pot and refills the table's cups, before heading back to his busser's station. Despite the tedious nature of the job, he enjoys being quietly left alone as he works, and Mr. Loud told him that he has the chance to become a waiter if he is interested in the position._

_At the moment, he has been working for only a week and in that time, he's learned that Mr. Loud, and by extension the staff, are friendly people which makes the job much better than he anticipated. Every shift, Francisco takes an opportunity to become more efficient at his job, which includes learning from the more experienced staff members._

_He looks over at the other busboy, who is taking a quick bite of a discarded mac and cheese bite. The busboy notices the younger boy looking at him, "What? Old man Loud doesn't mind so long as the customers don't see us."_

_Francisco isn't sure if he's telling the truth, but his coworker, who has been on the job longer than him, would know better than him. As he hears the man chew on the cheesy noodles, Francisco gets an idea; if Mr. Loud doesn't mind, then he could probably take some home so that he doesn't have to worry about making meals for his dad or himself when he gets home._

_He steps closer and whispers, "Are we…are we allowed to take some home? You know, in containers?"_

_The busboy shrugs his shoulder, "You can try, just get a container and keep it hidden so that no one takes it from you, last thing you want to do is share an appetizer."_

_He made sense to Francisco and the teen makes a plan to grab a to-go container, or two, in an effort to help out until he gets his first paycheck._

_As he continues his shift, he walks the dirty dishes back to the station and in the open to-go container he puts in the food that he's sure that the patrons didn't bite into. It doesn't take long for Francisco to get enough to cover him for the night, but with his shift only half-way over, he's a little tempted to get another container._

_The teen is excited; no more suffering through his dad's egg, onion, and pepper dishes, but also no more hearing him complain about how he cooks. _

_Francisco takes a bite from the mac and cheese bite and it's just like he remembers the chef's cooking to be – warm and comforting, even if it is an appetizer._

_Throughout the shift, Francisco imagines the tastes of all the food that he is storing away. Ever since his mom left to see her parents, Francisco and his dad haven't had the greatest of meals, mostly because neither one knew how to cook well and while this isn't the technically a meal, it is going to taste better than the overly salty or overly spicy meals that either De Los Reyes man could cook. _

_Francisco looks around to make sure that no one is watching him as he places some of the leftover food in a to-go container. However, he doesn't hear Lynn Sr., who is slowly stepping towards him until he feels the man's hand on his arm._

_The teenager stops and begins to panic as he turns his head towards the man._

"_Care to explain?"_

* * *

As he waits for Lynn to finish cleaning out the kitchen, Francisco takes a look at his bank account and groans as he sees that the account is still low on funds. It's bad enough that Kiké and Lynn's arguments wreak havoc on his house, which he has to fix, but he can't keep doing so, or his bank account is going to be depleted.

Francisco's phone buzzes – it's Caroline.

**We need to talk**

Francisco looks at the message from Caroline and wonders what she wants to talk about. He texts her back, but he can feel anxiety begin to creep in as his mind wonders what she could possibly want to talk about.

Caroline calls him back, "_Hey Francisco._"

"Hey…what's going on?"

She tries to think about her words carefully, she can't see his face and knows that he is likely to lie and that he is doing well.

"_I was calling about Elena,_" she starts. "_She's been mentioning headaches and how hard it is to study at your place on weekends._"

"Yeah, Lynn and Kiké are not making it easy. I've been trying to get them to stop fighting or causing so much noise, but they're stubborn."

"_You brother has been there for while, what's going on?_"

"Nothing, he's just–"

"_Hiding out?_" she interrupts. "_Look, I know that he's your brother, but we both know that it's best that he isn't around Elena and you._"

Francisco knows what she's implying. Ever since she's met Kiké, she's been apprehensive about him being near her, especially after she found out why he visits every few months and why he was excessively nice to her.

"_I'm just worried about you._"

He sighs, "Look, he'll be gone before we know it; you know that he doesn't stick around Royal Woods for long."

"_Then why is he still in town?_"

Francisco doesn't have an answer to that question; heck, he doesn't even know why Kiké won't leave, especially when he and Lynn keep fighting every other chance they get. Caroline does make a point, unless it's to his advantage, Kiké doesn't stick around anywhere for long.

"_Can you at least tell me this; is the reason that he visited in the first place the same reason that he did when we were together?_"

Francisco stays quiet; she knows why his brother is here, it's the same reason that they split up. For nearly ten years, Francisco was doing a decent job of keeping his drug use under control, especially since Kiké doesn't travel near Royal Woods that often, but with his newfound stresses, he can't help, but use a little more than normal.

"_Maybe it's best if Elena doesn't visit you for a while._"

"What?! Why?!"

"_Why? You know why. I've been patient and I've let you see her, but having your brother around isn't good for either of you and I don't want Elena to see you at your lowest…I'm sorry Francisco, but I've made up my mind._"

"You can't do that!"

"_Yes, I can, I've seen you at your lowest, and I know that that's where you're going right now. You haven't been acting like yourself, and I know that you have been able to pull yourself back up, but this is the third time that this has happened._" Caroline firmly tells him. She can sense that he's upset, but their daughter's well-being comes first, and Francisco can't provide that for her at the moment. Her voice breaks, "_I have been kind enough to you, but I can't let Elena see you go down that path. When you take your problem seriously and decide to get real help, then maybe we can talk about this again…goodbye, Francisco._"

She hangs up before he can say anything.

Francisco punches his steering wheel in frustration. He doesn't have a problem, he has everything under control, but once again someone else has to ruin everything, and now he won't get to see his daughter any more.

"I don't have a problem!" he yells at the top of his lungs.

He keeps punching the steering wheel, but he doesn't notice Lynn as she approaches the truck. She opens the door and he immediately stops.

"Sorry I took so long, but you won't believe what we found in the tomato crate. Are you okay?" she asks, concerned about his sour mood.

He nods his head, "Yeah, let's just go home."

* * *

_Lynn Sr. kneads the dough for the family's pizza dinner, he keeps thinking about what happened earlier at the restaurant; Lynn never mentioned that Francisco's family was struggling to put food on their table, although he can't imagine that the boy would bring it up to begin with._

'_I guess that explains the job and wanting food to take home,' he thinks to himself._

_He's conflicted about what to do with Francisco; he's never had an employee taking food home, but at the same time, he can't be upset if the teenager was doing it for his family._

_Lynn walks into the kitchen to grab a pudding cup and asks her dad, "How's it been going with Francisco? Was he the hard worker that I told you he was?" she asks with pride at her recommending her friend for the job opening._

_He nods, "Yeah, he definitely worked hard. He's so good, I'm almost thinking of calling him Mr. Responsible."_

_It isn't a lie; Francisco is doing a good job and doesn't skip a beat in terms of making sure that everything is running as well as it can on his end, but this revelation is troubling him. He's known Francisco to be a good boy, and in their short time working together, he's proved it, but he doesn't like having to confront employees on such negative terms._

_All throughout dinner, Lynn Sr. thought about how he plans on resolving his problem, but he feels knots in his stomach as he replays what Francisco say about his financially struggling family._

_Later that evening, when the lights upstairs are turned off, Lynn Sr. knows that he has a little privacy to figure out what he's going to do; he feels bad about Francisco's situation, especially since he's his daughter's friend, but he warned the boy too._

_Rita looks at her husband's notepad which is full of scratched out phrases, "What's wrong?"_

"_It's Francisco, I found him stealing food."_

"_Oh no."_

"_It wasn't fresh, just the stuff that we were going to throw out, but he told me that his family needed it," Lynn Sr. reasons._

_Rita can understand why her husband is upset; Francisco is Lynn's friend, but he can't go unpunished for something that he should know is wrong._

_He rests his head on his wife's shoulder, "What should I do? I mean, I didn't catch him in front of the others, but how's it going to look if I let him off the hook?" _

"_I'm sure you'll think of something," Rita says in an effort to comfort her husband. "He seems like a good boy."_

_Lynn Sr. nods his head, "Wait! I have an idea."_

_The next day, he calls Francisco into his office to discuss the incident. He has gone over what he is going to tell the teen, and he is going to be firm, but fair; he's not going to punish Francisco harshly, but it is still going to be a punishment._

_Francisco takes a seat in front of his boss, "Look, Mr. Loud, I know that you warned me that I wasn't allowed to take food, but–"_

_Lynn Sr. raises his hand to stop Francisco, "I understand your reason, and I know that things can get tough and I understand that you wanted to help."_

"_You can take the money from my paycheck," he offers._

"_Maybe…I mean, I am, but I am also going to have you do grunt work, like throwing out the trash, hosing down the trash cans, cleaning up any large messes on the floor, and clearing out our traps . One more thing," he takes out a container of food, "since your family is struggling, I am willing to help out, but I want you to remember that you cannot do what you did ever again. Is that understood?"_

"_Yes, sir."_

"_Good, now I don't want you to disappoint me again," Francisco nods his head. "Now, go out there and make me proud," he tells the teen, who hustles out of his office._

* * *

Francisco and Lynn walk into a quiet and empty house; both are surprised that they aren't hearing any loud noises like they usually do, and they wonder if their 'house guest' has finally left. Lynn runs down the hallway and looks at the spare room, but is quickly disappointed that Kiké's belongings are still in the room.

Disappointed, Lynn tells Francisco, "Well, the bastard is still here, but at least he isn't here right now."

He leans against the counter to rest, "Really, Lynn? You're calling him names now too?"

She crosses her arms, "He does it to me, it's only fair. Besides, I'm annoyed with how he's freeloading here and doesn't seem to leave for anything." Lynn opens the fridge, "What are you in the–" she spots two large boxes full of beer and quickly closes the fridge.

"What's wrong?"

"Do you want take-out? I can go out and get something to eat, like pizza, Chinese, or burgers. I'm really craving a bacon cheeseburger."

Francisco notices that she's walking towards her keys, "Why go out? We just got home."

Lynn tries to think of an excuse, "I've been cooking all day, I could use a break."

"I guess that fair, I'm kinda in the mood for Chinese, but I guess I can be swayed into eating a double bacon cheeseburger, with cheddar," he reminds her.

Lynn turns to him, "I know, I know. Do you want a concrete?"

"Surprise me, but no chocolate," he tells her, knowing full well that Lynn will steal bites of his frozen custard.

Lynn pouts and walks out to go for their dinner. When Lynn is gone, Francisco opens the fridge to get a bottle of water; he spots the boxes of beer and he figures out why she left. The boxes were taking up most of the space in the fridge and she can't easily avoid them. Francisco sighs and takes the two boxes out to his truck; he figures that the cold weather shouldn't ruin them and he can put them back whenever Lynn is at work.

Normally, Lynn has a good grip on avoiding temptation, but between work and his brother, he can see why it would be tempting to drink in an effort to let out some stress. Francisco looks down at one of the open boxes; he has never consumed alcohol in his life, and he's never been tempted before, but he can't stop staring at the cans in the box. He shakes his head, for now the only thing that mattered was getting the beer out of the house – for Lynn's sake.

After placing the boxes in the passenger seat for the night, Francisco texts Kiké to tell him that he moved the drinks to his truck. He can already imagine that his brother isn't going to be happy and is probably going to say something, but Francisco isn't planning on checking his phone to see what Kiké says.

Francisco sighs.

A few minutes, he hears the front door, and he hears arguing as Lynn and Kiké argue. Lynn smacks the man's head, as she complains that he stole fries from the bag.

"I didn't order food for you, you damn freeloader!"

"I was only gone for an hour, so I don't get to eat?!"

"Preferably you'd leave and get your own damn food!"

Kiké steals a bag and runs ahead of her to the kitchen. He dumps the food on the table, but before he can grab anything, Lynn takes the burger and tosses it to Francisco, who fails to catch it.

The two argue back and forth, as Lynn attempts to keep the fries and concrete away from Kiké.

Francisco angrily bites down on his hamburger as he hears the two arguing; it's their fault that he won't be able to see Elena. As they continue insulting each other back and forth, he feels his blood boil, and Francisco loses it, "Would you both shut up?! All I wanted was some damn peace and quiet, but because you two can't get over this stupid imaginary fight, I have to deal with all this noise as it splits my head in two!"

He grabs his car keys and slams the door shut leaving the two alone. He doesn't care what they do, but he can't be in that house any longer.

After so much time hearing them, he needs a break from it all. Francisco speeds off in his truck; he doesn't care where he goes, he doesn't care about the snow, and he doesn't care to answer Lynn's phone calls.

Francisco stops at the park. The parking lot is dim, but at least he'll be alone. His thoughts creep to what Caroline said and how he was not going to be able to see Elena. The last time that he didn't get to see her for an unknown period of time, felt like hell. He hates being the type of dad that only sees his daughter on the weekends, but not having the option to see her is even more nightmarish.

Between shaky breaths, Francisco tries to convince himself, "I've done it before…it…it can't be that hard…"

He thinks about Lynn, and how even _she_ can't completely escape her demons – every sports game; there are beer commercials and drinkers, at family events, while the Louds are just casual drinkers, the temptation is there at some family events.

"She did it…she quit…I can too… but… she doesn't…I have a…a medical reason…I need to take," he swallows, "I need to…to take my pills…she can live without…alcohol…"

Francisco tightly grasps on the steering wheel as he stares at the road; his head is throbbing after hearing Kiké and Lynn for so many weeks without end and for how he's going to handle being away from his only child.

He pulls out his medicine, "When was the last time I took these?" he asks himself.

He knows that not a lot of time has passed, but he needs something to stop all the pain. Francisco takes two pills, but he can still feel the pain.

"I can't take any more pills…why did I even…?" he asks himself as he tries to think about why he started.

Snow begins to fall onto the windshield.

"That's why…" he mutters, as tears begin to form in his eyes. "It's all my fault…"

He turns to the cans of beer, pops it open, and begins to drink.

* * *

**A lot later than usual, but at least I'm back to my usual update day.**

**To answer the review questions**

**1\. The last time I mentioned that the story would end on chapter 60, but after going over my outline, I think that it's possible that it could end somewhere between chapters 50 and 60 now.**

**2\. It depends on what characters you're referring to - Lisa, Lily, Lucy, Rocky, Lynn Sr. and Rita will appear, but the rest of the Louds are mostly reserved for past shots**

**3\. Points to you for knowing where I'm heading with the story, but I assume that in the actual show, Dr. Lopez is a child or family psychologist, so while she could have been useful for younger Lynn and Francisco, she won't be much help to the adult versions, plus I'm not fond of Dr. Lopez being the go-to psychologist used for every problem, but it is still possible for Elena  
**

**4\. Excluding Lynn and Francisco, I used my favorite pairing at the moment for all the siblings from Lori to Lucy and flipped coins to determine if they would be together for the story. I figure that in reality, not everyone stays together with their childhood sweetheart, so it would add a small element of realism, and if I ever decide to continue with the Growing Up universe using other Louds I can explain. However, for this story, it seems like it was for naught since I don't mention them at all, but I did keep notes regardless. The only reason why Luan and Benny not being together is mentioned is because Lynn plays a role and it pops up in the story later.**

**As always, I would like to thank you for reading, and I appreciate your patience**


	40. Snow and One Night

_Francisco takes a seat on the school bus and looks out the window as the snow falls to the ground. He misses the lazy days of Christmas break, but he is happy to have a reason to leave the house without one of his parents asking where he is going and when he'll be back. It isn't new behavior, his parents, particularly his mom, has always been overly cautious about her sons, but that caution is always shifted into overdrive this time of year._

_He always assumed that since he and his brothers learned to drive on snow, there wouldn't be as much to worry about when it came to driving, unfortunately for Francisco, his brothers and dad have caused some damage to the family truck. Whether it was in the dark of night or rainy storms, both parents have become paranoid that their youngest son will follow in his elder brothers' footsteps and get into an accident that will cause damage to the shared vehicle._

_It was also made worse by Valentine's Day last year; his parents haven't been as trusting in their youngest son, especially when he's behind the wheel. He assumed that they would have let it go eventually, but nearly every time that he brings up driving, they pretend to think about it after the 'incident', but he's sure that winter and snow is the true reason of keep the truck's keys from him._

_He doesn't notice when Lynn takes a seat in front of him, and playfully mocks him, "Hey! What's the cool driving guy doing on the bus?"_

_Francisco looks over at her, and with a smile, responds, "Keeping the girl who still doesn't have her license company."_

_Lynn punches him in the arm, "Ha ha," she laughs sarcastically, "Are you parents still not letting you drive in the snow? What's up with that?"_

_He holds onto where she punched him, and nods his head, "The curse of being the youngest – my brothers screw up and now my parents think that I'm going to crash if I drive in the snow like they did."_

"_I know that life," Lynn complains. "But it's daytime, you can still see the road. What kind of accident could you get into in this weather?"_

"_My brothers found a way. It was never anything serious, but my parents were sick of their insurance rates going through the roof because one of them lost control on a patch of ice or someone screwed up the truck because they fell into a pothole."_

_After hearing the complaints, begins to Lynn contemplate, "Maybe I should be happy that Vanzilla is probably going to be my first car – no one will care if something breaks," she jokes. "But it still doesn't make much sense; they let you drive on Valentine's Day last year, what's the difference now?"_

"_They didn't know that I went as far as I did," Francisco admits. "They thought that I was only going to hockey practice and back. Then my dad saw the odometer and realized how far I was driving."_

"_And you're still being punished?!"_

_He nods his head, "It's amazing when my dad is capable of paying attention to things like that."_

_Realizing that he probably lied about the first reason, Lynn asks, "So is it true about your brothers, or are you trying to save face?"_

"_No, that really is true. They didn't mind me driving to hockey practice because they hate waiting or being inside. Since I know the route so well, they trusted me."_

"_And you broke their trust by driving to the city," Lynn shakes her head, "For shame."_

"_Don't pretend that you didn't have fun," he teases._

_Lynn blushes and turns her head to the window as the bus begins to move, refusing to acknowledge that their little outing last year was entertaining._

* * *

Kiké opens the fridge to put away an aluminum-wrapped treat when he notices that his beer is missing, "What the hell?" he moves the food in the fridge, but he can't find a single can. "Where the hell is my beer?!"

"I don't know, it was there before I left to get something to eat," Lynn responds.

He closes the fridge, "Well beer cans don't just roll away while you go get a pack of smokes," Kiké complains. "Call Pancho and ask him where he put them."

"You do it. It's your beer," Lynn says, ignoring the unwanted guest in favor of the television screen.

He pulls out his phone and notices the message that Francisco left him, "What the hell?! The bastard put them in his truck, and he drove off with them!"

Lynn raises the volume on the tv in an effort to ignore Kiké's whining. She doesn't see why he cares so much, Francisco will probably be back in a few minutes and then he can go back to drinking that crisp…robust…Lynn shakes her head and stops thinking about the alcohol that was once in the fridge.

'_I've been good. I'm not gonna let that bastard screw up my sobriety.'_

She hasn't been tempted by alcohol in a long time, but having Francisco's brother around was pushing her. She can't drink, her family isn't always free to have an unexpected houseguest and she can only punch the punching bag at the gym for so long before she remembers that Kiké is still in her home.

Lynn pulls out her phone and texts Lisa in hopes that she might have heard from Francisco, but the younger sister quickly responds to let her know that she has not seen him. Lisa was the most likely to see or hear from him, since the scientist has no information on him, Lynn decides to text some pleasantries to her siblings on the group text.

She waits for a response, but after what seems like forever, Lynn decides that they are too busy. It's already dinner time, so she assumes that they're busy eating or getting home from work and thus, too busy to chat at the moment, but she's bored and she wants to have an excuse to ignore the whining man.

"Stop staring at your phone," Kiké tells her, "You look like a desperate loser who can't wait more than a few damn minutes."

"It's been longer than that."

"It's been less than five minutes," he informs her. "I know that you don't look that smart, but I doubt you're _that _incapable of knowing how much time passes."

Lynn ignores him and puts her phone away. She looks up at the clock and realizes in less than an hour since getting off of work, she and the unwanted houseguest have gotten into another fight and run Francisco out of his own home. She's told herself that she's going to make an attempt at stopping these needless fights, but it's easy to forget in the heat of the moment.

Kiké takes a seat near Lynn, "Look, I know you and I haven't gotten along so well, but is there any chance that you have a secret stash of booze lying around?"

"What? No, I don't drink."

"At all?"

Lynn shakes her head.

Kiké groans, "You and Pancho alike," he sighs.

* * *

_Francisco opens his textbook. It isn't his ideal way to spend his night, but he didn't understand his teacher's lesson and he needed to make an effort to keep his grades up. Come next school year, he's hoping that his skills on the diamond or the rink can get him a scholarship to go to college, but there's no way the school is going to let him play if his grades stink._

_At the moment, the teen is grateful that the house is quiet – his brothers don't live at home, his dad is napping on the couch, and mom is spending the evening relaxing. Meanwhile, Francisco is stuck reading a chemistry book, which he has little interest in, "This is no more interesting than it was in class," he complains, "Well at least there aren't any distractions."_

_After waking up from a nap, Juan notices the silence in the house and the grumbling in his stomach. He looks over at Alicia, who is wrapped under a blanket, listening to the tv and playing a game on her phone, and he mumbles, "Tengo hambre," he tells his wife._

_Alicia is surprised that he's hungry, considering that he ate before his nap, "Acabas de comer," she reminds him._

"_¿No hay algo para comer?" he asks._

_She sighs and turns off her game to go see if there are any snacks in the kitchen. This has been a more common occurrence over the years, but she can rarely keep snacks at home without either the boys or her husband eating everything. Luckily, she can keep her sons away, especially with two out of the house, but her husband almost reminded her of a child, especially when's been drinking._

_She looks through the cupboards and the pantry, but as expected, there are no snacks, unless Juan wants to eat cereal, and she knows that he doesn't._

_Alicia returns to the living room. She takes a seat and covers herself back up under her blankets, "No hay nada para comer," she tells him._

"_¿Ni siquiera una galleta?"_

"_Nada."_

"_¿Puedes hacer unas galletas de chispas de chocolate? Me gusta mucho la receta que le dio la amiga de Pancho, ¿y quizás también un atole?"_

_Alicia sighs and gets up from the couch. She isn't in the mood to make cookies, but at least she can turn on the oven and it can heat the house up a little._

_She looks through the pantry once again, but realizes that she's missing ingredients to make the cookies. Alicia thinks about sending Juan to get the remaining ingredients, while also getting some peace and quiet, but he's also hopeless at buying anything from the store._

_Alicia calls out to her son, "¡Pancho!"_

_The teen looks up from his textbook and sighs at the interruption. He gets up from his seat and walks to the kitchen._

_Francisco walks in and sees his mom looking through the pantry, she turns to her son and asks "¿Estás ocupado?"_

_He is, but he knows that unless he helps, his parents are going to check on him until he's available to help, "No, ¿que paso?"_

"_Voy a hacer unas galletas con chispas de chocolate, pero me faltan algunos ingredientes. __¿Puedes ir con tu papáa la tienda?"_

_He doesn't want to go the store, but he knows why his mom wants him to go – his dad is a hopeless shopper and will buy the wrong variety of the missing ingredients on the list. Francisco figures that it shouldn't take too long to go to the store and back, so he agrees._

_Alicia tells him what she's missing and the seventeen-year-old makes a list on his phone before he and his dad head out to the store._

* * *

Francisco tosses the empty beer can towards the passenger side. The snow is continuing to pile onto the windshield and he watches as he tries to make an effort of forgetting why he is in his truck drinking beer.

He isn't going to be able to see his daughter, he can't get peace anywhere he goes, and he knows what Lisa was thinking when she talked with him at the restaurant.

"What is wrong with me?" he slurred. He looks around, but the darkness of the park isn't making it easy.

Nearly twenty years since it all started, and he still is helpless. There was a time that Francisco could remember where he could walk around and even run without the help of addictive medicine, a time when his things were going good and he didn't feel as helpless as he is right now. However, time has slowly begun to steal that from him.

"I'm such a liar…"

He pulls out his medicine and stares at the bottle – the names on the bottle are probably fake, the pills were probably attained dishonestly, and he's sure that the bottle is tempting him to pull out another pill and wash it down with a can of beer.

Francisco grips the bottle of pills and rolls down the window; cold air hits his face and he throws the pill bottle out into the darkness.

He can feel blood about to drip from his nose and he sighs, "Stupid nosebleeds…" he shakes his head, as he recalls other members of his family who also suffer with unfortunate bleeding after breathing in cold air.

Getting rid of the pills, while sitting in his car is one thing, but at some point he's going to get up, go home, and be reminded that he has more pills waiting for him and he isn't going to be able to ignore it forever.

"Stupid back…stupid knees…" he complains.

As the years go on, his pain is beginning to include his knees and he's sure that at some point, he's going to be in so much pain, he won't be able to move or want to keep going.

He shakes his head, "That's just the beer talking," he convinces himself. "I'm…" he doesn't finish, he wants to stop feeling sorry for himself and to stop worrying about everything that is going on, but without something to numb the pain, it is still hitting him at full force.

Francisco turns on his truck. The windshield begins to fog up, but Francisco waits until it clears up before driving. He looks down at the empty beer cans and rather than be deterred, he decides that he wants to get home before it gets too late.

He closes his eyes and tells himself, "I can do it…I'll be fine…dad did it all the time…"

When he told himself that last part, Francisco opens his eyes and looks out at the snowy road; his hands are shaking and his heart is racing, but he tries to calm down so that he can make it home.

He looks at the truck's clock, it's getting late, and he knows that he's going to hear Lynn or Kiké as soon as he walks through the door, "Maybe they'll…maybe they'll…maybe they'll be…asleep," he convinces himself.

He takes a deep breath, and pulls out into the street.

Blue and red lights grab his attention as he pulls out of the parking lot. Francisco pulls over and an officer approaches him. He knows that he's going to be in trouble – there are empty beer cans in the truck, he was parked in a park after hours, and he knows that if he is tested with a breathalyzer, he's going to fail.

Francisco takes a deep breath and tries his best to keep the officer from getting suspicious.

The officer pulls out his flashlight and shines it at Francisco. The officer spots a stream of dry blood from Francisco's nose and begins to wonder what he was doing in the park, "Sir, do you know why I pulled you over?"

Francisco stays quiet. He can think of a few possible reasons, but rather than give the officer an idea of what he's been doing this evening, he shakes his head and quietly says, "No."

"We've had a few illegal activities going on after hours in park."

Francisco's heart beats out of control in his chest. He's sure that the officer knows about the beer, but he hasn't driven far enough or fast enough to be suspicious, but pulling out of a dark park after midnight is not going to look good regardless of what he was doing.

"May I see your license and registration?" the officer asks.

Francisco complies and provides the documents to the officer, who heads back to his squad car to run the plates. When he's alone, Francisco lets out a sigh of relief, he knows that he doesn't have a record and if the officer decides to let him off with a warning, he'll be okay.

The officer returns with Francisco's license and registration. He flashes the light into the truck as he returns the documents, "Alright, now I'm going to let you off with a warning, but next time–" a reflection catches the officer's attention and he shines the flashlight onto the pile of beer cans on the floor of the passenger's seat.

"Sir, I'm going to need you to step out of the vehicle."

Francisco sighs. There is nothing that he could say that would make this any better – the officer sees empty beer cans and will assume that Francisco has been drinking, he'll get tested, and likely be hauled off to jail for driving under the influence.

'_What a perfect way to end the day.'_

* * *

_Francisco quietly sits in the truck. Neither one has much to say to the other, but that was expected considering that Juan rarely interacts with Francisco individually and Francisco is busy with school and sports._

_Juan turns on the radio to remedy the silence. One of his favorite songs begins to play on the radio, and Juan begins to sing along, adding extra emotion at random parts of the song as he occasionally looks over at his son; hoping to get a response._

_Francisco tries to humor his dad, but silently watches as his dad sings._

_In his merriment, Juan begins to swerve into a different lane, and a car in said lane honks in response._

_The teen panics at the potential collision and tells his dad, "¡Ten cuidado!" _

_This isn't the first time that his dad has gotten into near misses with other drivers on the road, normally it's a result of sleep deprivation or drinking, but like always, the family isn't fond of Juan's stubbornness to let someone else take the wheel. _

"_Déjame manejar," Francisco says, hoping to get his dad off the road. _

"_Está bien," Juan tries to reassure his son as he gets back in his own lane._

_Francisco scowls and then glances over at his dad, who currently has bloodshot eyes, "¿Estas borracho?"_

_Juan shakes his head, "Solo era poquito cerveza."_

_That doesn't calm Francisco down; it doesn't take much alcohol to inebriate his dad and while the boy has had experience before with his dad driving under the influence, it doesn't take away the occasional fear that something bad will happen._

_Francisco sighs at his dad's stubbornness. Rather than continuing to cause strife, he grips the handle over the door as his dad continues to sing down the road._

* * *

Lynn stares at the hands on the clock; it's midnight, and Francisco still hasn't come home. She understands that he was frustrated with her and his brother fighting again, but she didn't think that he would take off for hours.

She pulls out her phone and makes another phone call, but like the last twenty-seven calls, he doesn't answer, "Hey…I know that I've left you a buncha voicemails, but I was hoping that you get back with me or home or at least text me back to let me know that you're okay. Any time would be appreciated, you know."

Lynn hastily hangs up. It isn't the best message but after so many, she's losing both patience and running out of things to say to get him to answer her calls. Luckily, the man that was driving her nuts has decided to go outside to smoke, but she's still annoyed at his presence in the house.

She paces back and forth by the front door until the sound of a car grabs her attention, and like a dog happy for his master's return, she looks through an opening to see if Francisco is home – he isn't.

"Where the heck are you?! I get it! We're annoying, but you seriously aren't coming home?!" she yells at the door.

She takes a seat by her favorite chair and turns on the tv in hopes of finding something to take her mind off of Francisco. She quickly flips through the channels, ignoring the content, until she settles on an infomercial selling 'official' NFL jackets.

Lynn taps her fingers as she ignores the hosts. She checks on her phone again, but Francisco has yet to call her back. It has only been a few short minutes since she left her voicemail, but she can't help being worried about him as the snow continues to fall.

"How did you even leave in this weather?" she asks out loud.

She knows that Francisco hates driving at night in any stormy weather that impedes his vision, especially snow, but she can imagine that with enough hate or anger anyone can power through fears to get out of the house.

"Call now folks, we only have a few of these limited edition jackets left," the host tells the viewers, as she posts the number of sales in the last couple of minutes. "You don't want to miss out on this amazing deal."

Lynn scoffs, she knows that it isn't true, not to mention that she can get better gear online and not whatever junk that this.

"Although it is tempting," she tells herself as she looks at the Lions jacket. "Maybe one for me and one for…dang it, back to thinking about Francisco."

She goes back to channel surfing, but she isn't in the mood to watch tv; she wants to know to make sure that Francisco is safe in this weather.

"He's probably over it, he should be over it…then again, he wasn't over it during that camping trip or when I tried to go home all those years ago."

Lynn recalls when it all started years ago – how he was afraid of driving for a while, how he was afraid of losing the ability to move, and how he would get angry out nowhere. She never did figure out the whole story from their family and after a couple of years, it seemed weird to ask again, but now Elena would ask her about what happened and has begun to pique her curiosity. After being separated for eleven years, it seemed as though he was able to get over most of his issues, but she's sure that something other than driving in the snow is still lingering on him.

As the hands on the clock continue to move, Lynn decides that instead of waiting for Francisco to come home, she'll go look for him instead. She grabs her keys and heads to the garage, but when she tries to turn on the ignition, Dutch stalls out.

She rests her head on the steering wheel, "Dang it…"

* * *

_As Juan pays at the register, Francisco watches as the snow falls from inside the store. In the short time that the two were in the store grabbing the missing ingredients for the chocolate chip cookies, snow has begun to fall onto the roads. The teen is a bit worried with his inebriated father behind the wheel, but he figures that he'll have a good reason to tell his dad to let him drive instead._

_As the two approach the truck, Juan calls out to his son and pulls out the keys to the truck; tossing them to his son. Francisco catches them, and is happy that his dad is going to be smart and let him drive in the snow. Normally, other winters have had Juan speed down the road as if nothing is wrong, it has probably scared a few years off of everyone's lives, but at least he is being smart tonight and letting someone who is not impaired drive._

_When Francisco gets into the driver's seat, he can see why his dad gave him the keys – a police car is parked in front of the two of them with an officer looking over at the two, particularly Juan. The officer can probably tell that Juan is a little drunk, and rather than risk losing the truck or his license, the older man decides to let his son drive them home._

"_Mira tus espejos," Juan reminds Francisco._

_The teen sighs. He wouldn't have minded the advice, but he isn't a new driver, and it isn't as if his dad taught him much to begin with. Like Kiké, Francisco learned to drive from Chuy, but it never stopped his dad from making an attempt at squeezing in a lesson that he already learned from his brother._

_Rather than question anything, the teen pulls out of the parking spot and heads down home. Unlike his dad, who had no issue driving down the road at speed limit, Francisco decides to be more cautious, especially since he doesn't know how slick the roads are._

"_Puedes ir más rápido. Estarás bien," Juan tells his son, in hopes of getting him to drive faster._

"_Hay hielo en la calle," Francisco tells him._

"_Eres joven…puedes hacerlo," Juan assures his son. _

_Rather than argue, Francisco speeds up a little, but slips on a patch of ice. Francisco remains calm, but he decides to slow back down and remain vigilant to prevent it from happening again._

"_¡Ten cuidado!" Juan loudly warns his son. _

_Francisco sighs. He was fine driving at the speed that he was, but his dad insisted that he could handle it. He knows that his dad wants to get home so that his mom can start on the cookies, but he can't imagine that he isn't patient enough to go at a reasonable speed._

_Snow began falling faster and was blocking Francisco's vision. Even when he turns on the windshield wipers, the falling snow in front of him only allows him to see a few feet ahead. _

"_Sólo un poco más…ya casi llegamos," Juan tells him._

"_Yeah, I know," Francisco says in a huff, frustrated by the terrible weather conditions._

_Juan looks over at his son, as if waiting for him to do something, and the teen can sense it. When Francisco sees a bright red light, he comes to a stop and waits. He's a little frazzled, but he doesn't want to show his dad, especially since it's his fault that they're out in this weather._

'_I should have stayed home…'_

"_No es tan malo ahora mismo," Juan tells his son. _

"_¿Cómo que no es tan mal? ¡No puedo ver nada por toda esta nieve!" __Francisco complains._

_He knows that a few days ago he would have loved to have been allowed to drive, but he's not mindless enough to go out in this sort of weather._

_Francisco mutters under his breath, "All because you had to be drunk and all because you wanted cookies."_

_He didn't want to say anything bad, but Francisco felt like was going to let out years' worth of frustrations on his dad – broken promises, stressful evenings, and having to defend his mom whenever his dad got a crazy idea in his head._

_Juan stays quiet. He didn't understand everything his son said, but he did understand 'drunk' and 'cookies'. He knows that his son is frustrated with leaving to go on an errand, but rather than say something that he's sure to regret, he stares out the window._

_The light turns green and Francisco slowly drives forward, 'I swear, sometimes I wonder how much easier our lives will–'_

_Francisco doesn't finish his thought when a truck crashes into them._

* * *

Lynn walks outside to the backyard and sees Kiké stare at her as she walks toward the fence to see if Jackson would be willing to let her borrow his car.

"Jackson!" she yells, but is met with silence. "Jackson!"

When he doesn't respond, Lynn grabs some snow from the ground and forms a snowball to toss at her neighbor's window, but again, Lynn is met with silence.

"You're wasting your time. The old man is probably at some weird festival around here," Kiké tells her.

She turns towards him, "At this hour?"

"You know that he's a weirdo with the interests to match, right?"

For as long as she's known Jackson, Lynn has noticed that he seems to be out and about at random times of the day and has some weird hobbies to match the items in his home. To date, he doesn't give much explanation other than being a teacher, but she finds it hard to believe her neighbor since he is called to do odd jobs that she would never expect a teacher to do.

She takes a seat next to Kiké, "You know this is your fault," she tells him.

"Like I haven't heard that before. Try again, maybe be a little more original. Here, I'll tell you what not to say – 'Why can't you be like your brother?', 'Why are you always getting in trouble?', 'How many times do I have to tell you not to do that?', 'When are you going to grow up', and blah blah blah. It's all the same crap by different people."

Hearing that almost reminded Lynn of herself growing up. The thought of being like Kiké makes her shudder, but she can't deny that someone has probably felt frustration towards her for some reason or another.

An idea pops into Lynn's head, "Can I take your car to go look for Francisco? I'm getting worried."

"The car doesn't have valid plates, and I doubt you want to drive it," he tells her as he light up his cigarette. "Besides, why are you so worried about him? It's not like he's going to do something stupid."

"That's not the point! Jeez, don't you care about anyone else, but yourself?"

"That's another one!" he mockingly tells her. "Look, it's not like he's going to be an idiot and drive as the snow keeps piling on out there. Chances are he went to mom or Chuy's and he's ignoring you because he knows that he'll have to come home."

"It wouldn't be an issue if you'd just leave."

Kiké rolls his eyes, "Calm the fuck down. I'll be gone in a few days and then you and Pancho can go back to screwing around on the couch."

Lynn tackles him to the ground and before she is able to land the first punch, she stops herself and gets up.

'_This is why Francisco left, he's sick of our crap…'_

Lynn knows that she isn't going to change her feelings about the smoking man overnight, especially after so many years of arguing with one another, but she promised Francisco that she would try and she hasn't kept her word.

She gets off of him and takes a seat, while Kiké sits back down to light up another cigarette. He hands her his pack and offers her one to take the edge off, "You want one?"

"I don't smoke."

"Let me get this straight, you don't smoke, you don't drink, would you like my brownie to have some fun?"

"I'm plenty fun, you–" she immediately catches herself and calms down, "Just because you're so boring that you need that stuff to have fun, doesn't mean I am," she remarks. "Besides, I've seen my sisters on magic brownies; it hasn't really caught my interest."

Kiké has enough of an idea about her interests – sports; that's all he knows. She cooks and she plays nearly every damn sport under the sun, but that's all he knows about her. The two rarely interacted, and it was mostly them fighting one another, but with them stuck in the house, it wouldn't hurt to try, unless they both wanted to sit in silence all night.

"So you've never drank? Never smoked?"

Lynn scoffs, "I did enough of that in my twenties. I don't need to ruin my thirties by going backwards."

That piques his interests, "What did you do?"

"It's not important, although we can say that my twenties are mostly lost in a fog of alcohol and bad decisions."

"Stripping?"

"No."

"Drug dealing?"

"No."

"Bank robbery?"

"No!"

"Then you're still boring," he complains. "I was hoping for something to make me think that you were interesting, but you're still my bratty brother's boring girlfriend."

She tosses a snowball at his face, "Maybe don't worry about my life and focus on why yours is such a failure."

'_Back to insults…'_ Lynn chastises.

Kiké blows smoke out into the air, "I wanted to travel. See more than just the same boring village like I did every year growing up. I found an opportunity and then the rest just came. Besides, money and a loose definition of work got me what I wanted in life, so I went with it. Don't think that just because Pancho has a house, that he's doing better, he still needs my help, all I do is play the part of the idiot that only cares about himself."

* * *

_Francisco slowly opens his eyes and is met with the dark night sky. He can't remember what happened, but he takes some snow between his fingers. He closes his hand tightly and he feels something sharp piercing his skin._

_The last thing that the teenager can remember is driving and going home from the store, but everything seems to be a blank._

"_What am I doing outside?" he asks himself. "Why does my body hurt?"_

_Francisco makes an attempt to get up and look at his surroundings, but he feels a sharp pain as he makes an attempt to move. A loud siren grabs his attention as it approaches him and he lies down as snowflakes fall on his body._

_The paramedics get out of the ambulance and spot Francisco, who is bleeding and surrounded by debris. Francisco is carefully placed in the gurney as he looks over and sees another pair of paramedics tend to his dad in the snow before he closes his eyes._

_Hours pass, and Francisco wakes up in a white room attached to monitors. He can see a cast and bandages on his body, but he can't recall how he ended up in them. Being in the hospital isn't anything new to him, usually, doctors would examine him, take a few x-rays, and then send him on his merry way, although he's never been as injured as he sees now._

'_Dang…what the heck happened to me?' he thinks to himself as he looks to see if there are any injuries that he might have missed._

_The sound of the curtain drawing grabs the teen's attention and he sees Chuy, who is surprised to see his brother awake._

"_How are you doing, Pancho?"_

_The younger brother isn't sure; the medicine that the nurses gave him are numbing everything at the moment, but he also can't recall how he got to the hospital; his usual visits have been while he's conscious, which leaves him with questions for his brother._

_Francisco looks around for his parents, "Where is everyone?" he asks._

_Chuy takes a seat, "You know Kiké, he shows up whenever he wants. Honestly, sometimes, I wish that he would grow up and stop being so selfish, but, that's not the brother we know" he tells his youngest brother in an effort to keep him from asking about their parents._

_Francisco slowly nods his head, "And what about mom and dad?"_

_The older brother takes a deep breath; clearly Francisco has no recollection of what happened, maybe he'll remember eventually, but he can't hide the truth from his brother for long._

"_Mom is with the doctor and dad…Pancho, um…dad didn't make it. When the paramedics checked on him…"_

_Francisco doesn't hear the rest of what his brother is explaining. He can't believe that his dad is gone, he's almost hoping that his brother is lying, but Chuy wouldn't lie about something so serious. _

'_He can't be gone," Francisco thinks to himself, "He isn't gone…he's in…"_

_Chuy can tell that it isn't easy to hear. Heck, their mom is still shocked after hearing the news, meanwhile, Pancho is the last one to hear, and he was the one in the truck when the incident happened._

_The older brother tries to think of what to say, but everything so fresh at the moment; a few days ago, he and his dad were at work, now he's gone. He looks over at his younger brother, who looks shocked to hear the news, but like him, Pancho isn't saying anything._

_Both brothers silently stare out, neither one looking towards the other, as they try to process the information. Chuy can feel tears forming in his eyes, but his brother continues to stare out, almost void any emotion._

_At some point, Chuy knows that his younger brother will let out his grief, but he knows that he has a lot to process – he survived the accident that killed their father and from what the doctor told their mom, he might not be able to play sports or move properly ever again._

* * *

Lynn lays in bed. She stares at the red lights of the digital clock; waiting for the sound of the front door or a garage or the truck to let her know that Francisco has come home. A few hours ago, she went along with Kiké's suggestion and called Chuy to see if Francisco was hiding out there, but like his younger brother, Chuy didn't answer the phone.

"Probably shouldn't have called at two in the morning on a work night…"

She picks up her phone again to look at the various messages that she has left Francisco, "Dang, did I really leave that many text messages?" she scrolls through her call log, "and a lot of calls…No wonder he doesn't call back."

However, despite knowing that she's annoying him, she wishes that he would at least let her know that he was okay and not in some ditch or buried under a pile of snow because he was too paralyzed to drive in this weather.

"He's with his brother," she tells herself. "He's with his mom…he's with Caroline and Elena…he's not in the hospital…"

She can't think of a reason that he would be at Caroline's house, but anywhere is better than being in the house of screams.

Lynn pulls out her phone. She's tempted to text Andrew and see if maybe Francisco is with their family, but she knows that she's being ridiculous.

"Why can't time go faster? Or why can't I sleep?!"

From the spare room, Kiké yells, "Shut up! I'm trying to sleep!"

"You shut up!" she yells back.

The phone rings, and on the first ring, Lynn picks it up; not caring about who it could be, "Hello."

"_Hey Lynn,_" Francisco mutters into the phone.

"Francisco," she says relieved that he's okay. "Where are you?"

"_Um…I'm in jail…_"

"What? Why?"

"_I got pulled over and…_"

Before he can begin to properly explain himself, Lynn grabs her jacket. She knows that Dutch isn't being reliable, but maybe by some miracle, he'll work long enough to pick Francisco up and get back home, "I'll be right there before you know it. Just give me the address and I'll see if I can get Dutch running and we'll be home in no time."

"_Just so you know…_" Francisco starts, "_It's not my fault …_"

"What?" she asks, confused by what he's talking about.

"_I had a lot going on, and I couldn't stop thinking about my pills…I had the beer and…I think that he was just trying to fill his quota or something…I mean, I didn't even drive that far…_"

Lynn doesn't say a word. She's heard that excuse before, she used it with her friends when she spent a night in jail, "I think…I'll go pick you up in the morning," she tells him.

"_What? Lynn, are you–_"

She hangs up the phone and lies back in bed. She can feel a headache coming on as she fights back tears about what just happened; Lynn doesn't feel right for leaving Francisco behind to sit in jail cell, but if she goes back for him, then she's only going to perpetuate the problem – a problem that she knew very well.

Lynn wraps herself in the blankets, but as hard as she tries to sleep, all she can think of is how he's in a jail cell, hopefully alone, but hopefully okay.

"It's just one night," she mutters to herself, "just one night."

* * *

**There it is - Juan's fate and the cause of Francisco's pain, although you probably figured that out based on some clues chapters ago. When I first wrote the story, Francisco's injury was supposed to just be his knee, and caused by sports injuries, and Juan was supposed to be alive but there was no pill addiction. The story needed a little heft, so it was added at the expense of an OC. Trust me, the first version of the story was going to be too nice or happy and that's not an entertaining read**

**I'm also glad that I was able to work in Francisco going to jail for the night, it was supposed to happen back when he and Lynn broke up way back in the early chapters, but I thought that it wouldn't really make sense, but it now it can work a little better, and force Lynn work towards confronting her own alcoholism and the problems caused by it...eventually**

**Thank you all for reading, and see you next time**


	41. Hope and Dishonesty

Lynn grabs her jacket. She told Francisco that she would be there in the morning, but she struggled to get to sleep after hearing that he is currently in jail and is currently running behind. Lynn can't imagine that it was for a good reason, but she can't imagine that it's such a bad thing, although she can imagine a few simple scenarios.

She isn't a stranger to being behind bars – throughout her twenties there were incidents, nothing insane, but nothing that she ever wanted her family to know about. Luckily, she had her friends to bail her out, but at some point, that was no longer an option. She can't blame them though; you can't enable an addict forever.

Lynn mutters that to herself. She didn't give Francisco much of a chance to explain himself, but he's in jail, so it can't be good, "I'm gonna give him a chance and then I'll see if I have to give him a piece of my mind."

She doesn't want to go there, but if it has to happen, it has to happen. Lynn gets into her car and drives to the police station to go pick up Francisco.

Lily and Lisa see Lynn's blue car pull away from the driveway. The two are in disguise to keep their sister from becoming the wiser as they plan to ambush Francisco when he gets home. After last night's phone call and lunch, Lisa can see what is happening, and she spent her free time studying on how to treat him. She can't watch her sister deal with it alone and whether she knows it or not, her family is going to help her.

"Lisa, how do we even know that he isn't home?" Lily asks. "I get that his truck isn't there, but what if he left for work early and didn't carpool with Lynn."

Through a pair of binoculars, Lisa answers, "Because sister, father mentioned that Francisco isn't feeling well and is going to be absent, meanwhile our fifth eldest sister mentioned that she is not going in to work. With his vehicle missing and his absence from, it can presumed that Lynn is picking him up, as soon as she's gone, we go inside and confront him when he gets home."

Lily sighs; Lisa can be so stubborn whenever she wants something that she thinks is right. Yesterday, the scientist texted her letting her know that she needed a ride, but she didn't imagine that it would be to break into their sister's home to force Francisco into treatment.

"And the whole helping him recover thing?"

"That's so that he can better himself," Lisa says. She turns around and when Lynn turns the corner, she steps out of the car and walks to Francisco's front door.

"Wait! That doesn't answer my question!" Lily yells as she follows her on foot. "Are we seriously leaving my car in front of another person's house? What if it gets towed?"

Lisa continues walking ahead, "Pay to get it out of the impound lot."

Lily scoffs, but continues to follow after sister.

The two spot a car in the driveway and wonder whose it could belong to, but neither one is too concerned. Lily knocks on the door, and when neither one gets a response; they search for a hidden spare key. The door opens and Kiké looks at the two women who appear to be searching around the house suspiciously

Lisa gets up and walks in the house, "I see that you're one of Francisco's older brothers." Lily and Kiké wonder how she could know that at first glance, and the scientist answers their potential question, "Both share a similar brow line and auricle shape." Neither Lily and Kiké know what last word meant, and Lisa replies, "Your ears."

"Who the heck are you two?" Kiké asks.

With a smile, Lily answers, "We're Lynn's sisters. We're here to see Francisco…well, Lisa is."

"Then why are you here?" he asks the blonde.

"Lisa's 'too evolved' to drive," Lily jokes, "I'm her chauffeur unfortunately."

The older sister doesn't take the joke well, but decides not to let it get to her, "I'm _that_ important," she tells the man.

* * *

_Francisco looks around the house. It has been months since he started fixing things to make it more livable, and while it is miles better than before, he knows that he can do better. The holes are covered up, the floor isn't squeaky, the glass is cleaned up, and there are no more pests, as far as he's concerned. There's just one thing left to do – get clean._

_Caroline didn't mention that she was going to let Elena see him anymore, but he can assume that if he makes enough of an effort to fix his life and turn it around then he shouldn't have any issue convincing her to see their daughter._

_Francisco pulls out his bottle of medicine and looks over at it; he's been taking these since he got hurt on the job a while ago, but he assured everyone in his life that it's because he's in pain. _

"_I can do it…there's lots of ways to get over back pain…I can figure out something," he tells himself. "Do it for Elena."_

_He puts his pill bottle away in the medicine cabinet, "I don't have a problem. I can do it. Those pills will only be for emergencies."_

_He walks to the living room and anxiously paces back and forth; he knows what to expect concerning withdrawal symptoms, but that shouldn't be a problem._

"_I'm not an addict…I have back pain that needs treatment…"_

_Ever since the car accident, his back has been in constant pain, luckily over the years, it has lessened in intensity, but it still flares up from time to time, especially when he's been purposefully doing so on the job. _

"_So long as I only take as prescribed, then I don't have a problem – I'll just be a man taking medicine as prescribed. Easy."_

_That's what he has told himself before, but he goes back to old habits. The first time was an actual accident on the job, everyone knew where the mistake was made, OSHA was called, solutions were offered, and Francisco went to the doctor. He was fine for months, then a muscle spasm occurred, and after that, he went down a slippery slope of muscle injuries that he faked. It isn't technically a lie, since his lower back muscles are in constant pain, but he would do it on purpose to get a prescription._

_At some point, Francisco got sick of the x-rays, sick of spending hours in various clinics, and sick of probing questions from the doctors and his loved ones. Luckily, he knew someone who had all the time in the world and the ability to travel._

"_Only take them when needed – that's the responsible thing to do."_

* * *

Francisco and Lynn close the car door after stepping out of the police station. As Lynn pulls out into the street, neither one says a thing. Both of them are mad at one another, Lynn mad at the charges that he conveniently forgot to mention over the phone and Francisco mad that he was left overnight in a jail cell while beginning to feel the effects of his withdrawal.

After a minute of silence, the two simultaneously snap at one another, "I'm so mad at you!" both are surprised at other snapping at them, "You're mad at me?! Yes!"

"Alright, we're being stupid," Lynn says, "You go first."

"How could you let me spend a night in jail?"

"How could you go drinking and driving? What the hell is wrong with you?"

"It's not my fault; I was drinking to forget that I'm constantly taking pain pills."

"Speaking of that where did you get those? The last time I remember you going to the doctor was never. And that's not an excuse to go driving after blowing a .11 on the breathalyzer?"

Francisco doesn't answer.

Lynn sighs, she isn't going to get him to incriminate himself, and so she decides on a peace offering, "Fine, I'm going to say one thing. I am saying this as one addict to another, if you want to get better, I'm willing to help you, but as your girlfriend, and I'm making this abundantly clear, I am so fucking mad at you for keeping this a secret, even after I told you that I was an alcoholic!"

He crosses his arms, "I'm not an addict."

"Are you serious?! You're telling me that this isn't the same thing?"

"I was only drinking one time, not exactly the same as being an alcoholic that can't function throughout the day without a drink."

Lynn can't believe that that's how he plans on fighting her back, but rather than taking it lying down, she snaps back, "Kinda like you and your pills?"

Francisco stays quiet.

"Yeah, I thought so," she complains.

After arriving home, the two walk towards the front door, Francisco reminds Lynn, "At some point, we're going to have to get my truck out of the impound lot."

"Like that'll do you any good without a driver's license," she says in spite.

When the two walk in through the front door, they are taken by surprise to see Lisa looking at them from the living room. As both step to see why she showed up out of nowhere, they hear the front door close behind them, and Lily stepping towards them.

"Lisa wants to talk to you," the youngest Loud told Francisco.

The scientist steps towards the disheveled man, "I see I was right about what is going on with you. If you would like I can help you get better, but I can't work do anything unless you consent to it."

Lily chuckles at the thought of Lisa asking someone for consent considering her past. Lynn, on the other hand, isn't taking it too lightly; she barely realized last night that there was a problem and now Lisa, who apparently knew, is offering him help.

Lynn stares down her younger sister, "I already told him that I was going to help him, so you don't need to worry about anything. Besides, why do you even care?"

Before Lisa can say a thing, Francisco clears his throat, "Excuse me, neither of you are going to make a decision for me. I'm going to decide what I do."

The sisters stare at him, waiting for what he plans on doing.

He looks over at Lynn, "Lisa is a doctor–"

"She is?" Kiké asks from the kitchen. "She told me that she was a scientist."

Lily speaks up, "She's also a lawyer, engineer, and going into business."

"Damn," he looks at Lisa, "Do you just collect degrees for fun?"

Lisa smiles at the accusation.

Francisco clears his throat again to get everyone's attention, "Again! Lisa is a doctor; she knows what to do when it comes to this better than anyone. I'm going to go with her."

Lynn scowls. She isn't thrilled about what is going on, but rather than say it out loud, she walks out of the house and slams the door as loudly as she can.

Francisco walks out to check on her, but as he opens the door, he can see that Lynn is already driving away from the house. He sighs, he knows that he's on thin ice with her, but he isn't going to dwell on it, in the end he's going to get better and everyone is going to be better off for it.

"Let me lead you to the x-ray machine that I set up in your spare room," Lisa informs him.

* * *

_Chuy looks over at his younger brother, who is angrily muttering to himself as he puts together a door; this has been going on for weeks, but he can sense that his brother is getting angrier by the day. Since he moved out months ago, Francisco looks more tired and now it appears that he's adding temperamental._

_The older brother walks over and looks over at Francisco. Chuy figures that at some point he'll be noticed and then maybe Francisco will stop trying to shove wires into the door haphazardly._

_Francisco can feel someone staring at him, he turns around and sees his older brother staring at him, "What?" he asks, not sure about why he's being stared at._

"_It's almost lunch time, do you want to finish the door and go out for something to eat? My treat," he offers, knowing that most of Francisco's money has been used for home repairs_

_Francisco nods his head and calmly tries to finish, but frustration begins to creep up on him. Before he can get the opportunity to angrily shake the door, Chuy calls out to him and looks at him, like a father disappointed in their child's tantrum. Francisco stops, takes a deep breath, and recalls the correct steps for putting the door together. _

_Come lunchtime, the two take a seat in the back of Chuy's truck and split the pizza in front of them. A box of Little Nero's Pizza isn't exactly what Francisco had in mind when it came to lunch, but he isn't going to complain about a free hot meal. Both brothers silently eat their slice of pizza, but Francisco knows what his brother wants to talk about._

"_I'm trying…" Francisco starts._

"_That's good, but maybe you shouldn't do it alone," Chuy tells his brother, despite knowing that that isn't Francisco's style; he'd rather suffer in silence than admit that he's got a problem that he needs help with._

"_You aren't going to say anything to anyone, are you?"_

_Chuy shakes his head, "You're smart, Pancho, and I think you know how to fix your problem better than I do. You've just got to find your own motivation."_

_Francisco sighs. He knows why he should do it, but he can't quit cold turkey like he wants to; if this week has proven anything to him, it's that he can't function for long without his medicine to numb all the pain._

"_I'm trying for Elena…"_

_Chuy takes a bite of another slice of pizza, "That's a good start," he sighs. He doesn't want to get too involved, but seeing his brother struggle is always a weakness of his, "You know that mom and I can help you, right?"_

_Francisco doesn't want to involve his mom; he knows that she knows, but he'd rather not have her involved for this. However, he also knows that he's lucky to have people who care to try, and how does he repay them – by running off and keeping himself closed off. _

"_I know…"_

_The older brother pats his brother's shoulder and the two quietly eat their lunch before heading back to work. As the two walk back in, Francisco can feel pain in his lower back, and he sighs; he's got two options – suck it up and be aggressive all day or at least stop for a minute and take his medince._

_Chuy turns around and sees his brother rifling through his pockets, "What are you doing?"_

"_I'm going to get something from the vending machine, I didn't get full from lunch," he lies._

"_Maybe next time don't spend your whole break nibbling on two slices," Chuy tells him before heading back to the plant floor._

* * *

Lynn drives around, she doesn't know where to go or even why she left, but did not want to be in that house right now. She doesn't want to look at Kiké, face Francisco, or deal with Lisa's comments about how a former addict living with a current addict could miss the symptoms.

She drives down a familiar street and parks Dutch in front of her childhood home. Lynn knocks on the front door and is greeted by her dad, "LJ, what are you doing here? I thought that you were at home with Francisco."

She shrugs her shoulders, "He said that he didn't need my help, and since I already took the next few days off, I figured that I'd come see you and mom."

He smiles, "Well come on in, I always love it when one my little birdies flies back to the nest," he tells her in delight.

Lynn Sr. always said that to his kids, no matter how short the visit, he's thrilled to have his children come back home, not that any of the kids blame him.

"What was wrong with–"

"Do you mind if I get something to eat?" Lynn interrupts, not wanting to talk about Francisco.

Rita, who is slowly coming down the stairs, sees her daughter, "Lynn, how are you doing?" Lynn's stomach answers for her and Rita chuckles, knowing the answer to her question.

"I've been so busy this morning, I forgot to eat breakfast."

Lynn Sr. and Rita are surprised, eating was the one thing they were sure that she never forgot growing up. Granted, there were times when she would forget, especially if she was too focused on playing a sport, but other than that, they often times caught her sneaking snacks and bites of food between meals.

They notice the time and while neither one is in the mood for an early lunch they figure that for their daughter they can make exception.

The three walk in the kitchen to catch up, and Lynn Sr. turns to his daughter, asking, "What are you in the mood for breakfast?"

Lynn looks around and a cookbook catches her eye. She flips through the pages and she is drawn to a beef bourguignon recipe, "This looks good," she says, pointing to the picture.

Rita puts on her reading glasses, which are hanging off her neck, and looks at the total time listed in the book, "This recipe takes eight hours."

"I know, but it looks good."

Rita turns to her husband, who is happy to make the time-consuming dish, but she knows that her daughter isn't going to be patient enough to wait that amount of time. Before she is able to say anything, her husband and daughter begin prepping everything start the dish; Lynn starts chopping vegetables, Lynn Sr. searches for the cut of meat and Rita knows that she's lost them both.

As the two Lynns prep, Rita goes to her secret stash of cookies and pulls them out for whenever Lynn is ready admit that she's too hungry to wait for the stew to be ready. As the food cooks, Rita takes the opportunity to catch up with her daughter, who has been busy with work and an unwelcomed houseguest, whom her daughter referred to using rather colorful words.

Hours later, Lily drives home. Upon reaching the driveway, she notices Lynn's blue car and realizes that her older sister has been avoiding her and Lisa's calls in their parents' home.

"Seriously? We spend all day helping your boyfriend and you just run away because he chose Lisa to help?" Lily sighs, "I swear…"

As she walks inside, she is overtaken by the smell of meat, vegetables, and herbs wafting from the kitchen. Lily walks into the living room and sees her mom setting the table for dinner.

"Lily, there you are. I was wondering where you and Lisa had gone off to," Rita says. "Where's your sister?"

"She's busy with a project…what's going on here?"

"Your dad and Lynn made dinner. Get washed up and so that we can eat," Rita tells Lily, who is trying to figure out what is going on.

When Lily does as her mother tells her. As she heads upstairs to wash her hands, she tries to think of what she's going to say to Lynn, about her behavior early in the day. When she returns, Lily notices the family sitting around the table as they wait for her. She takes a seat and she watches Lynn, who is pretending as if nothing is wrong; she has been gone for hours, but the younger sister can't believe that she was here the whole time. The food is placed in front of her and she forgets to talk, instead her mind is preoccupied with the smell of the warm meal in front of her.

The family happily eats the meal as they continue talking about how they're ready for the warmer weather and the fun that comes with summer, but Lily looks over at her sister, who appears to not have a care in the world about her boyfriend or what is going on at home, and she plans on confronting Lynn when they have a bit of privacy.

After finishing his dinner, Lynn Sr. gets up and begins to take the dishes, but Lily quickly gets up, "Lynn and I can take them," she says, hoping to get a few minutes alone with her sister.

"Hey! I cooked, why should I clean?"

"Because," Lily says, despite not having a good reason. She grabs her sister by the arm and the two begin to clear the table.

The two quietly wash the dishes, and when she's sure that they're alone, Lily puts down the sponge, and whispers to Lynn, "What is wrong with you?! Lisa and I spent all day taking care of _your_ boyfriend; meanwhile, you're just playing in the kitchen making delicious food to avoid us. I get it, you're mad that he picked Lisa to help, but she's going to know way more about this. Think about it, Lynn, what do you know about helping someone get sober? I mean, she knows more than either of us, and she knew that there was a problem."

Lynn scoffs and mutters under her breath, "She couldn't even see a problem that was in front of her face."

"What was that?" Lily asks, curious about what her sister said.

"Nothing," Lynn complains, tossing the drying rag on the counter. "I'm going."

"Where?"

Lynn doesn't answer as she walks away. Lily, refusing to let her sister run from her, attempts to stop her by grabbing onto her sister's hand, but Lynn easily overpowers her younger sister and frees herself.

As she walks to the front door, Rita speaks up, "Oh, you're going?"

Lynn turns around, "Yeah, it's getting late. It was nice seeing you guys," she tells her parents, before giving them a hug. "I'll try to remember to come by a little more often."

Both parents smile, they know that she'll try, but they know that she'll probably forget until Easter or one of their birthdays. They don't blame her; her mind always seemed to be bouncing around until something like sports grabbed her attention.

The parents watch Lynn leave from the front door and they wave goodbye.

Lynn drives around again; how she wishes that she has more siblings living nearby, "Can't go to Great Lakes City – too far, Lansing is a long drive too, and everyone else just gets further away," she groans, before remembering Lucy, "That's right, she has plenty of room and I bet she'll love the help," she convinces herself as she drives to her younger sister's house.

Lynn knocks on Lucy's front door. She needs time to think and she figures that this is better than being around Francisco, his brother, and her youngest sisters.

Rocky opens the front door, "Hey Lynn, what are you doing out here?"

"Can I stay over for a bit? I'm…" she struggles to think of the right words, but rather than let her struggle to think of a reason, Rocky lets her in.

* * *

_On the plant floor, Francisco keeps a sharp eye for anything that would cause him to lose his footing. He's been vigilant and he plans on staying true to his word of not abusing his medication. His back hasn't been bothering him as much, he doesn't overexert himself, and he's been doing the exercises that the doctor recommended during his last visit, but he also can't help but to sneak in a dosage of his medicine at any sign of trouble._

_He told himself that it would only be for when he's in pain, but Francisco knows that with a loose definition of pain, he can take his medicine without much issue._

_Francisco has also been keeping his emotions under control; Chuy found out about him because he lost his temper with a car door and he doesn't want his brother worrying too much._

_As the work day ends, Chuy walks up behind his brother and asks, "Do you want to go get something for dinner?"_

_Francisco shakes his head, "No, I'm tired. I'm just hoping to get a shower and go to bed."_

"_Yeah, that deadline is pushing at lot of us, but you know how everyone loves buying cars for the holidays."_

_Francisco nods his head, "I'll take a rain check on the dinner, but I'll see you around."_

_Chuy lets his brother go, and as Francisco walks away, he notices that he's dragging his feet on the ground in an attempt to take steps._

_When he's in his truck, Francisco takes out a pill and takes it, "Damn these long work days," he complains before driving out of the parking lot._

_Francisco gets home from work. He's had time to get acclimated to the sound of silence, but he can't help but think of how he's alone in the house. The purpose of such a large house was to have space for everyone to not annoy another person, but he almost feels silly now having so much space for himself. Of course, if he can convince Caroline to come back then he won't be alone and he can fix everything. _

_He thinks about Caroline and Elena; they haven't seen each other in a long time, and he's almost afraid that he's going to become a stranger to his daughter after being apart for so long. His mom assured him that she does think of him, but he's sure that she was saying that to make him feel better._

_Francisco pulls out his phone and looks at Caroline's name; his heart is pounding as he thinks about talking with her to let her know that he's trying harder to be a better man for her and Elena, but he's nervous to hear her say that she'll never let him near their daughter again. He knows that she isn't vindictive like that, but he hasn't given her any good reason to give him a chance and he's sure that her family has probably tried to sway her to keep him away._

_He presses on her name and he hears the phone ring. He wishes that he would have practiced what he plans on saying, but it's too late now unless, she doesn't answer._

_The call goes straight to voicemail._

"_Hey Caroline, it's me…look, I was hoping that we could talk one of these days about, you know. I've been working on it for some time, and especially since we broke up, but I think that maybe we can talk in person about…" he doesn't know how to finish the message, "about Elena and maybe each other…let me know if you want to get together and talk. Bye."_

_Francisco hangs up; he's upset about how nervous he sounded, but at least he left her a voice message and maybe he'll get a response soon._

* * *

The next morning, Lucy is awakened by the sound of her children through the baby monitor. She hoped for a few more minutes of sleep before they would wake up, but it isn't anything new. Luckily the twins have their aunt Lynn, who would gladly take them off of her hands for a few minutes, but Lucy can't ever seem to know how her sister is going to wake up – one morning, she's a ball of energy that runs through the neighborhood, and some days, like yesterday, she holed herself up in her room, exhausted but unable to say why.

When she realizes that Lynn isn't getting up to play with the twins, Lucy gets up to start the day. Like every morning, she gets the twins out of their crib, changes them into a fresh diaper, dresses them, and while they play, she makes breakfast. Lucy walks into the kitchen and notices the messy state of the kitchen, "Sigh…Lynn…" she complains, knowing that her sister is on a morning run. Lucy doesn't know why she's surprised, growing up, Lynn was always messy, but years apart did make Lucy forget how much of a destructive force her sister is when she's in search of her morning coffee.

Speaking of coffee, Lucy searches the cabinets for any coffee to get her started, but the bag is missing, "This is going to be a long morning."

Lynn runs inside, wearing Lucy's borrowed black clothes, and sees her sister and her children, "That was a good run," she tells them.

"Is there anymore coffee?" Lucy asks her sister.

Lynn kicks off her shoes, "I made a whole pot before I left, but I don't think that there's any more ground coffee."

"Sigh…did you drink it all?" Lucy asks, aware that her sister probably drank the whole pot before going on her run.

Lynn thinks about it for a minute, as she tries to remember, "I think so," she slowly says. "But I know I saw a bag of ground coffee in the cabinets somewhere. Anyway, I'm gonna go take a shower," she says, leaving her sister alone in the kitchen.

Lucy is getting annoyed, she loves her sister, but she is ready for her to go. Lynn springs up unexpectedly at her front door a few days ago with nothing more than the clothes on her back, and now she seems to be making herself at home. While, Lucy does appreciate her sister's help with her children, it doesn't mean that she and Rocky don't miss having time alone without worrying about Lynn overhearing them.

Lucy's phone buzzes and she sees a text from Rocky, letting her know that he hid some coffee for her. She sighs in relief, both for her husband's quick thinking, but also to be able to drink the beverage to help get her up for the day.

She grabs the hidden stash of coffee grounds and walks to the kitchen where she sees Lynn making breakfast for everyone, the older sister turns around, "See! I told you that there was coffee somewhere around here."

Lucy doesn't respond and begins making her beverage. Like before she took her run, Lynn is making a mess of the kitchen; it makes Lucy wonder what the state the kitchen at the restaurant is in because of her.

"You want something to eat?" Lynn asks.

Lucy shakes her head.

Lynn puts a plate in front of her, "Are you sure?"

She shakes her head again, and watches as the kids eat the food in front of them. Lynn takes a seat in front of them and joins them for breakfast. As Lucy watches her sister, she wonders if she's being too harsh for not letting Lynn cool down for a few days in her home; she didn't mention why she's here and Lisa isn't much help, but watching the three eat in their childishly playful manner keeps Lucy from judging her sister too harshly. However, the dirty pans and spills remind her that she wants Lynn to go home.

The twins each hold out a spoonful of eggs for their aunt and Lynn makes an attempt to 'steal' the food before they move the spoon away from her; food falls to the ground, and Lucy groans at another mess that she has to clean up.

When the coffee is brewed, Lucy pours herself a cup to forget the messes, but she feels a piece of egg hit her hair.

With pride in her voice, Lynn tells her niece, "Good arm, Catherine."

She squeals in delight, and her brother, not willing to let his sister be the only one to be praised, throws egg at Lucy and laughs.

Lucy walks over to the sink to clean off the food from her hair, "Lynn, don't encourage them."

"Why? You can wash it off, and it is a pretty impressive hit for both of them." The younger hisses at her Lynn and she takes the hint, "Okay, I'll praise them for 'normal' good behavior." She turns around and finishes her breakfast.

"And please clean up," Lucy pleads with her sister, who turns around and notices the mess that she left.

"Right," Lynn turns to the twins, who have finished breakfast, "Time to learn a new game, guys!" she says as she pretends the cleaning up is a new game for the children to play.

With Lynn preoccupied with the twins, Lucy sneaks away to her bedroom and texts Francisco, letting him know that Lynn is at her house. She knows that he isn't guaranteed to arrive and take her sister home, but it doesn't stop Lucy from taking a chance and hoping that he'll have enough sense to talk with Lynn.

* * *

_Francisco looks at himself in the mirror. His clothes are clean and pressed, and he's almost ready to go see Caroline to talk with her. He called her to let her know that he wanted to talk in person and as expected she hesitated to do so, luckily, she changed her mind days later, but he knows that he has to be careful. Since their breakup, she hasn't made much effort to speak with him, except to check up on him, at least that's what Francisco assumes. He knows that he has one chance to convince her that he's doing okay, and he's not going to ruin it._

_As he reaches for his shoes, he can feel his lumbar muscles begin to ache. He bites down on his bottom lip, and quickly puts on and ties his shoes. Francisco stands up, but his back continues to ache; his eyes wander towards the medicine cabinet in the bathroom and he's tempted to take one pill to calm his back._

"_Just one…besides, I've been good. I've only been using them when I need them, that doesn't sound like someone with a problem," he convinces himself, as he slowly steps towards the bottle._

_He grabs a pill and swallows it without a second thought. Francisco puts the pill bottle away in the medicine cabinet and as he closes the cabinet door, he notices his reflection in the mirror. He told himself that he was going to try and be better, but he can't stop himself from trying._

"_It's not abuse if I'm taking it like the doctor prescribed to me before," he tells the mirror. Francisco repeats that to himself as he drives to see Caroline and as he pulls into the driveway._

_He knocks on the front door of the house and tries to keep himself alert. Francisco can feel sweat dripping down his neck as he nervously thinks about how today is going to go. _

_Caroline opens the front door, "Hey," they both say at the same time. "How are–" they both stop speaking in an effort to let the other talk. "You look good," they say in unison._

_She raises a finger and stops him to invite him inside, "Come in."_

_Francisco stands nervously by the door. He imagined in his mind what he was going to say, but all the words are getting caught in his throat as he tries to keep himself from messing up and ruining his only chance at returning things back to normal._

"_This is a very nice place," he compliments._

"_Thanks, it's Violet's."_

_He stays quiet, hoping to keep the conversation from swaying towards Caroline's sister._

_Sensing that he's uncomfortable at the mention of her sister, she asks, "How are your mom and brother?"_

"_They're doing well, Chuy got that promotion he was hoping for and mom keeps talking about retirement."_

_Elena hears a familiar voice and turns to the source. She spots her dad at the door, and begins walking to make sure that he is who she thinks he is; when she's sure that it's him, she runs over to give him a hug, "Daddy!"_

_Francisco smiles, happy to know that she is happy to see him. He slowly bends down to pick her up, but he can feel his back ache. He can't believe it; he just took the medicine shortly before arriving and he can barely lift his own child._

_Caroline notices the pain in his eyes as he lifts Elena, "Are you okay?"_

_He nods his head, "Yeah, I'm trying…to, um… find some alternatives to my medicine…with the help of a doctor."_

_She is happy to hear that, "What did they say?"_

"_It's mostly physical therapy and if that doesn't work…surgery," he says. It isn't news; he's been told that by doctors since the surgery, but like a stubborn idiot, he doesn't go._

_Caroline leads him inside to where Elena was playing, "Have you started physical therapy yet?"_

"_I start next week," he says, as he sets Elena down._

_She isn't sure if it's true, but as she watches the look in his eyes as he plays with Elena from his seat, she thinks that maybe there is honesty in his words and that he is trying to better himself. However, she doesn't know how far they should go concerning their daughter – she's willing to let him have this afternoon under her supervision, but maybe one day, assuming that he is being honest, she can trust him to be the dad that she knows he wants to be._

_Elena pulls on her mother's hand, "Mommy, come play with us," she pleads._

_With a smile, Caroline agrees and joins the two, almost forgetting that there was an issue to worry about._

* * *

Rocky walks into the house and sees Lynn playing ball with the children on the floor. He greets her through his teeth, but he is curious as to how long she is going to stick around; he misses being alone with his wife after their children go to bed, now they have a guest who can hear them at all hours of the night and it's not an ideal situation for the couple.

He spots Lucy typing away on her laptop in the dining room. Rocky walks up behind his wife, gives her a kiss and whispers to her, "How was your day?"

Lucy sighs, "Same as yesterday – exhausting."

He rubs her shoulders, "If we're lucky, she'll be leaving soon, she can't stay here forever, unless she likes wearing black everyday" he reminds her.

That's what Lucy wants, it has been over two days since Lynn has begun staying with them, and while they wouldn't mind inviting her into their home, they would have liked more of a heads up. They appreciate that she can help with the kids and cook meals but at some point they want their home back and having Lynn around is not helpful.

"I don't know," Lucy whispers back, "I talked to Lisa and she mentioned that Lynn ran out of the house after she and Francisco came home a few days ago."

"That doesn't sound like much of a reason to leave. What about your parents, can't she stay with them?"

"She doesn't want to because of Lily and we count on Lynn doing it herself. Besides, I'm the one who spends the most time with her, you can go to work and not worry about her constant presence."

Rocky can't argue with that.

Lucy pulls him close and whispers in his ear, "I already texted Francisco and let him know that she's here. Maybe he'll be able to get her to go home."

They are both hoping, but if he hasn't made much of an effort to look for Lynn, the call may not be enough.

Hours later, when the twins are asleep, the sound of knocking interrupts them. Lucy is hopeful that it's Francisco, and she smiles upon seeing him at the front door; happy that he could possibly take Lynn with him, "Come in," she invites him.

He shakes his head, "That's okay. I came to see Lynn, is she around to talk?"

Lucy nods her head, and goes inside the house. She tells her sister about her guest, but rather than ignore the man, she heads towards the front door. Lucy is afraid that she's going to slam the door in his face and that she and her family will have her for another night, but Lynn walks outside and closes the door behind her.

Rocky and Lucy peek through the curtains and see the two quietly stare at one another. Neither one is saying anything and for a minute the married couple is afraid that the meeting is all for naught.

Lynn, who notices the spying couple, quietly asks Francisco, "How'd you get here?"

"Taxi. I swear Lisa needs to learn how to drive one day," he answers.

"Is he gone?" she asks, hoping that Kiké has finally left like he promised.

Francisco nods his head, "Yeah, he's gone, but Lisa stuck around for the whole week."

Lynn speaks up, "Before you ask, I still don't know why I left."

"Okay…" The two take a seat on the porch swing and look up at the sky. To break the silence, Francisco tells her, "You know that I still have to go to court."

"Yeah…" Lynn sighs, "I remember. I can't tell you how many times I've had to step in front of a judge and then be forced to do community service."

Francisco grows curious, "How many times?"

"Plenty of times since I couldn't seem to stop getting in trouble," she tells him. "I would lose my license and then I figured I'm already in trouble, so what the heck is another ticket on my record?"

"You drove around without a license?"

"And lived in my car. Why do you think that I don't want to get rid of Dutch?"

Francisco can think of a reason – she thinks that the car is lucky despite constantly breaking down every few miles. He doesn't tell her though, even though he's sure that she knows his feelings on her superstitious nature.

"How was hell week?"

Francisco sighs, "I don't know…Lisa took an x-ray of my back, but she still gave me my medicine."

"Why?" she asks, curious as to why her sister would continue to give him medicine that he's abusing.

"She said that she needs to talk to some colleagues, but the alternatives that she gave me are a medicine that puts me to sleep or addictive medicine that someone else has to give me," he tells her, glancing in her direction, hoping that she'd get the hint.

Lynn notices, "You want me to give it to you?"

"Only until she and the doctors get back with us, then we'll see what they can do," he reminds her.

She isn't sure. He hid his addiction for years and she never knew that he was abusing it; Lynn can't imagine that he's being completely honest with her right now and she doesn't trust herself to not screw this up.

She shakes her head, "No, I can't."

Hearing that surprised Francisco, "What? Why? You said that you'd help me."

"Last I recall you wanted Lisa to help you."

He sighs, "Lynn, I'm serious."

"So am I. I can't help you, I know that I'm gonna screw it up so I think that you're better off getting someone that isn't me."

"But I trust you."

"Not enough if you had to lie and only thought about quitting when you got caught," she answers back.

She knows that it isn't the best thing to say to him, but she's frustrated and can't make sense of her emotions at the moment. For the last week, she's gone from emotional highs at her parents to emotional lows here at Lucy's all while trying to figure out what she's going to do. The pro is that his brother is gone, but she's still mad that he is still using his medicine and she can't understand why it bothers her so much.

Francisco stares out at Dutch and starts talking, "You know, it's hard to believe how I've spent over half my life screwing up. It's one bad decision after the other, and all because of one."

"That's not how it works," Lynn reminds him. She knows that he's trying to gain some sympathy points, but it doesn't undo what he's been doing, even though she knows what it's like to be in his shoes. "You get plenty of chances in life."

That's not how it feels to Francisco – he knows where things all went wrong, and why things are going wrong to this day. He knows that he can fix it, but he never tries. It was like Lynn said, he didn't care enough to quit until he was found out and he's still running around in circles making the same mistakes, even though he's had a great reason to stop.

"I'm thirty-five, and I think about how much of my life I screwed up sometimes. I would injure myself on purpose sometimes just to have a reason to see a doctor and not worry about my family asking questions. Do you remember the dune buggy accident a couple of years ago?"

"You did it on purpose?"

He nods his head, "I knew the brakes didn't work. When I fell off the roof during Lucy's baby shower, I knew where the patch of ice was. Even around Caroline, I did the same thing I would look for reasons to get hurt. I'm pretty sure my old job was convinced that I was a walking workplace hazard." He pauses to think for a minute, "I don't know how to stop myself, and I can't keep telling myself that I'm going to be able to do it alone."

Lynn sighs. After hearing that, she knows that he's going to keep going until he falls harder than he's ever fallen, and it's going to hurt everyone around him. She pulls him into a hug and quietly tells him, "You better be serious about quitting…trust me when I say you don't want this to control you forever and you don't want it to ruin your relationships…"

He's a little afraid of hearing that from her, but he nods his head to let her know that he understands what she's telling him.

She gets up and lends him her hand, "C'mon let's go home."

Francisco takes her hand and the two slowly walk to her car.

* * *

**Apologies for the tardiness, I wasn't planning on taking so long, but somewhere between work and Thanksgiving, I ended up putting this off longer than necessary.**

**It feels weird to have Francisco's problem being spoken about, I'm so used to making attempts at hiding it, that it throws me off to have it mentioned by other characters. However, like Lynn, it'll get easier, and now I can work towards making the story a little lighter, with sprinkles of honesty and repercussions.**

**Thank you for reading and see you guys next time**


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